BEIRUT: Future MP Khaled Daher called on Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn Tuesday to resign, saying his clarification over his allegations on the presence of Al-Qaeda members in the Bekaa town of Arsal was not convincing.

“We heard yesterday Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn in the [Parliament] Defense Committee. But we were not convinced of his clarification because he made matters more ambiguous and suspicious despite his denial that he had accused Arsal of sheltering Al-Qaeda,” Daher told a news conference in Parliament.

He said Ghosn tried to make his statement on the presence of Al-Qaeda in Arsal as a warning against terrorism.

Speaking Monday before Parliament’s Defense and Interior ministries and Municipalities Committee, which summoned the minister for questioning on his remarks about the presence of Al-Qaeda in Arsal, Ghosn said the Bekaa town was not meant to be targeted and was used as an example of a larger problem based on Lebanese Army reports.

Citing last month’s killing by the Syrian army of three Lebanese in the area of Wadi Khaled near the border with Syria, Daher accused Ghosn of not caring for the protection of the Lebanese border.

“Therefore, I call on him [Ghosn] to resign in order to preserve the dignity of Lebanon, the military establishment and the entire state,” Daher said.