BEIRUT: In an apparent change of heart, MPs from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc welcomed Friday as “a good and positive step” the Lebanese Army deployment in villages on the northern border with Syria, but demanded that troops be stationed along the joint frontier to protect Lebanese citizens against Syrian attacks.

The state-run National News Agency said Lebanese troops, backed by several armored personnel carriers and military trucks, took up positions in the villages of Knaisseh and Hnaider in the Wadi Khaled area on the northern border with Syria Thursday night.

The military move came a week after the Army staged raids 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 raids have evoked criticism from the 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.

But the criticism has now been replaced by praise following Thursday’s deployment.

“The Army’s deployment [in villages] on the northern border is a good and positive step. But this step should be followed up by the deployment of the Army along the entire northern border with Syria, from Arida [in the north] to the Arqoub area and Shebaa Farms [in the south] to prevent arms smuggling and the presence of armed groups in any direction,” Future MP Ahmad Fatfat told The Daily Star.

Future MP Mouein Merabi, while praising the Army’s deployment on the northern border, said this step should be followed up by the military presence in areas where Lebanese were killed or wounded by Syrian gunfire.

“We welcome the Army on its land and in its country. The Army is a national Army made up of our sons. Therefore, the Army’s deployment is welcomed at any time and anywhere,” Merabi told The Daily Star.

He said the Army deployed a number of APCs and about 50 soldiers in the village of Hnaider, which lies on the Lebanese-Syria border.

“What happened yesterday is a first step which we hope will be followed up by the Army’s deployment in regions that pose a threat to Lebanese civilians,” Merabi said. “The Army is welcomed on the border and also in neighborhoods, inside towns and villages.”

Merabi said that the Future bloc has been demanding for the past 10 months that the Army deploy on the northern border with Syria following a series of incidents, including gunfire from the Syrian side at houses on the Lebanese side of the border.

Future MP Atef Majdalani said that the Army’s deployment in the north had been discussed by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, head of the Future bloc, with both President Michel Sleiman and Army Commander Jean Kahwagi.

Commenting on the military deployment on the northern border with Syria, Majdalani told the Voice of Lebanon radio station Friday: “The Lebanese Army will fully perform its duty. We have confidence in it.”

Future MP Ziad Qaderi said the Lebanese Army must deploy on the border with Syria rather than between houses. In an interview with LBCI TV Friday, Qaderi said he rejected that the north or the Bekaa region be used as a base for the Free Syrian Army or others.

“We reject this matter. We do not accept the smuggling of arms, nor do we cover it. We respect laws,” Qaderi said. “There is a humanitarian, political and moral stance on what is happening in Syria. We do not interfere in matters relating to involving Lebanon in a big problem, like arms or refugee camps.”

The Future Movement and its March 14 allies have staunchly supported Syrian protesters demanding the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

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.

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.

The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the popular upheaval in Syria began last year. Syrian officials have accused Lebanese factions of smuggling weapons to anti-regime protesters.