Aoun: Syrian Refugee Encampments Have Turned into Military Camps
President Michel Aoun on Friday lamented the fact that encampments for Syrian refugees in Lebanon are turning into military camps and a safe haven for militants planning terror attacks against the country's troops and citizens.
“Displaced Syrian encampments have turned into military camps rather than places for displaced people,” said the President.
Aoun's comments came ahead of suicide attacks on Friday at dawn in Lebanon that killed a child and wounded seven troops.
Five militants blew themselves up and a sixth threw a grenade during raids on two refugee camps near the Syrian border, the army had said.
Four of the suicide bombers struck in the al-Nour camp near the border town of Arsal
A young girl, whose parents are both refugees, was killed and three soldiers wounded, the army said.
A medical source in the provincial capital Baalbek said the girl was two and a half years old.
Troops recovered four explosive devices.
During a raid on another camp near Arsal -al-Qarieh-one militant blew himself up and a second threw a grenade at troops, wounding four of them.
There have been multiple clashes along the border between the Lebanese army and jihadists of the Islamic State group or al-Qaida.
In August 2014, the army clashed with jihadists of IS and al-Qaida's then Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front in the Arsal region, with militants kidnapping 30 Lebanese soldiers and policemen as they withdrew back along the border.
After long and arduous negotiations, 16 of the kidnapped men were released in December 2015 in exchange for Islamist prisoners held in Lebanese jail.
The jihadists executed four of their hostages while a fifth died of wounds he suffered in the initial Arsal clashes, leaving nine members of Lebanon's security forces still in their hands.
Since 2014, both the Lebanese army and Hizbullah have carried out attacks on Syria-based jihadists in eastern Lebanon.
Hizbullah has intervened in the war in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, sending tens of thousands of fighters.
Its strongholds in Lebanon have been hit by several deadly attacks claimed by IS.
Source: Naharnet, Agence France Presse
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