CHOUF, Lebanon: Lebanese Army Commander Jean Kahwagi said Sunday Lebanon should be wary of negative repercussions ensuing from recent regional developments.
Speaking at his hometown Baadaran during an official visit to the Chouf region, Kahwagi stressed that the Lebanese Army was prepared to confront any attempts to spark strife among the Lebanese.
“The influence of developments, which the Arab region is witnessing, will have repercussions in more than one direction. We are concerned with avoiding any work that could negatively impact us or others and could be counted as interference in the affairs of others,” Kahwagi said.
“This, however, does not cancel cooperation with our brothers, particularly with regard to the growth of the military institution in equipments training as well as border control,” he added.
Kahwagi’s visit to the Chouf region Sunday is his first since he assumed his post in 2008 as Lebanese Army commander – a post reserved for a Maronite under Lebanon’s confessional power-sharing system.
The Chouf region was the scene of bloody war rounds between Christian militias and MP Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party fighters during Lebanon’s 15-year Civil War, mainly in 1983 and 1984. The war that came to an end in 1989 with the Taif Accord left the Chouf’s Christians displaced without the possibility of returning to their hometowns until 2001.
August 2001 saw reconciliation between the Druze and Christian communities, when former Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir visited the Chouf region and met with Jumblatt.
On his visit Kahwagi also held talks with Jumblatt at the latter’s residence in the Chouf village of Mukhtara.
Discussions with the PSP leader addressed the latest developments on the Lebanese and regional scene as well as challenges confronting the Lebanese Army in the upcoming period.
Talks were followed by a lunch banquet attended by a number of high ranking military officials along with Kahwagi’s wife Marlene and lawmakers from Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc.
Prior to his meeting with Jumblatt, Kahwagi took part in a mass at Baadaran, where he was received by Jumblatt’s representative, PSP secretary Sharif Fayyad and a number of Druze religious figures.
“The Lebanese Army stands alongside its citizens anywhere to confront the Israeli enemy, its aggressions and plots, which take different forms from time to time,” Kahwagi told delegations that turned out to welcome him in his hometown.