BEIRUT: Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Tuesday the Lebanese Army was probing recent claims by Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn that members of militant Al-Qaeda had infiltrated the east Lebanon border village of Arsal.

Speaking to the Voice of Lebanon radio station, Charbel said he was taking Ghosn’s warnings into consideration and stressed that the matter should be brought up as a priority in Cabinet.

“He [Ghosn] will bring this up tomorrow [Wednesday] during the Cabinet session,” Charbel said.

Ghosn stood firm Monday on his earlier statement that Al-Qaeda members were entering Lebanon under the guise of Syrian opposition activists, rejecting March 14 criticism that his remarks aimed to serve the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The defense minister’s claims came days before twin attacks targeted the Syrian capital. Syrian authorities blamed Al-Qaeda for the attacks.

Akkar MP Khaled Daher, who Monday described Ghosn’s statements as dangerous, told the Kataeb-run Voice of Lebanon that both President Michel Sleiman and Charbel had provided adequate responses to Ghosn’s "implicating" claims.

“I think the words of President Michel Sleiman and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel are the most vocal responses to the 'implicating' statements by the defense minister. We know that the higher commander of the armed forces in Lebanon is the president,” Daher said Tuesday.

On Sunday, Sleiman said Lebanon opposed terrorism and said Lebanon would not harbor terrorists, in an apparent response to Ghosn’s claims of the presence of Al-Qaeda in part of the country.

During his interview with Voice of Lebanon, Charbel saw as unlikely problems emerging between the Lebanese Army and Arsal residents, saying “there is continuous coordination between the army and residents and all the villages on the border with Syria.”

Arsal has been the victim of several incursions by the Syrian Army.

Local media reported Tuesday that a delegation from Arsal was heading to the Grand Serail to call on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to deploy Lebanese troops to maintain security.