BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman defended Wednesday the Lebanese Army as the Future Movement and its March 14 allies criticized the military’s failure to deploy on Lebanon’s northern and eastern border with Syria to protect Lebanese citizens against Syrian attacks.

Sleiman praised “the Army’s role in maintaining civil peace, protecting the citizens and their stability in the first place and preventing the repercussions of what is happening around us on the Lebanese interior by staying away from political polarization,” according to a statement released by the president’s office.

He urged the Lebanese to continue rallying around the Army by granting it their “full confidence in its national unity in order to prevent the reverberations of the Syrian crisis from affecting Lebanon, namely in bordering areas, so as to keep the country in political, security and economic stability.”

Sleiman’s remarks came during his meeting at the Baabda Palace with Brigadier General Edmond Fadel, chief of the Army Intelligence, who briefed him on the security measures taken by the Army across the country.

“This in addition to the duty of protecting the southern border and spreading the state sovereignty in the interior as well as controlling the border and crossings as part of the [Army’s] missions it was assigned by the Cabinet,” the statement said. It added that the Army has “a full political cover” from the Cabinet to carry out these missions.

Sleiman’s remarks came amid media reports that the Army would pursue the raids it started last week in towns and villages bordering Syria in search of armed groups suspected of smuggling weapons to the Syrian opposition through illegal border crossings.

However, the Army’s operation has evoked criticism from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc and its March 14 allies, who demanded that the military be deployed right on the Lebanese-Syrian border to protect Lebanese citizens against Syrian incursions, rather than inside villages.

So far, there has been no comment from the Army Command on last week’s military operation in the Wadi Khaled area near the border with Syria. The Daily Star’s repeated attempts to get comment from Army officials were unsuccessful.

Two Lebanese men were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of smuggling arms to the Syrian opposition through illegal border crossings in the Bekaa, including the town of Arsal.

Following a series of security incidents, including a recent attack by Syrian forces on three Lebanese fishermen in the north that led to the death of a teenager, the Future bloc and March 14 parties have called for the Army deployment on the borders in the north and the east to protect Lebanese citizens living in border towns.

Referring to the Army’s raids on the northern border, the Future bloc said in a statement Tuesday that they “seem to be targeting [border] villages rather than protecting them.”

Sources said that the Lebanese Army beefed up its presence along the northern border over the weekend and is carrying out raids against armed groups rumored to belong to the Free Syrian Army, which is fighting Syrian troops.

State Minister Ali Kanso praised the Army’s operation on the border with Syria.

“When the Army carries out security missions in this or that area, especially on the Lebanese-Syrian border, it is doing its duty. It has been assigned by the Cabinet and the Higher Defense Council with these missions,” Kanso said after meeting Prime Minister Najib Mikati. “Therefore, we have to stand united alongside this military establishment which is a guarantee for security and stability in Lebanon.”

Asked about his assessment of the Lebanese Army’s operation on the northern border, the Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali said he hoped that the Lebanese government will show “continued and escalating seriousness” in dealing with attempts to tamper with Lebanon’s security and threats to Syria’s security through “terrorist groups.”

Speaking to reporters after meeting former Prime Minister Omar Karami, Ali accused the West of using “mercenaries and extremists” to undermine Syria’s security. He also accused what he called “criminal media” outlets of twisting and falsifying facts about developments of the 11-month-old uprising demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

In an interview with Future News TV Wednesday, Future MP Ahmad Fatfat said: “We demand the protection of all the borders without exception, that is, the northern and eastern borders to prevent any arms smuggling.”

The March 14 Secretariat General criticized the Army’s raid in the northern Akkar district.

“The March 14 parties, which have constantly demanded the Army deployment on the Lebanese border with Syria to protect the border and the residents of the nearby areas and the [Syrians] who fled to them, express their regret over what happened in the Akkar areas a few days ago where a military operation, in the form of landing and the setting up of checkpoints inside neighborhoods, was carried out. This did not in any way look like the normal deployment we are demanding,” the Secretariat General said in a statement after its weekly meeting.

It added that Lebanon’s state, institutions and security agencies should not be linked to the popular upheaval in Syria.

Akkar MP Khaled Daher from Hariri’s Future bloc told The Daily Star Sunday that the Army’s military operation in the Wadi Khaled area came at the request of the Syrian regime. He said eight Lebanese have been killed in Syrian border incursions since the uprising began in Syria in March last year.

Syria has repeatedly urged Lebanon to prevent arms smuggling on the border, prompting Lebanon’s Higher Defense Council to tighten security measures on the poorly demarcated border and curb the transfer of weapons from one country to the other.

The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the popular upheaval in Syria began last year.