BEIRUT: The Parliamentary Future bloc of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri lambasted the government Tuesday for failing to protect Lebanese citizens against Syrian border attacks and called for Arab League action to prevent repeated Syrian violations of the Lebanese frontier.“

The bloc expressed its condemnation and concern over the increasing infringement by the Syrian regime’s forces on Lebanese sovereignty, including the targeting of the three fishermen in Arida which led to the martyrdom of teenager Maher Hamad. [In addition], these attacks make the residents of the border areas jobless,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

The statement said that the attack on the fishermen off the Lebanese border town of Arida in the north over the weekend showed “a disrespect for the Lebanese state, its independence and its sovereignty and offended the Lebanese peoples’ dignity.”

“The repeated attacks carried out by the Syrian regime are no longer tolerable and it is not permissible to remain silent over them,” the Future parliamentary bloc said.

Three fishermen, identified as Fadi Hamad, 37, his brother Khaled , 33, and their nephew Maher, 17, were kidnapped by Syrian security forces off Arida Saturday morning after a Syrian naval vessel crossed 3 kilometers into Lebanon’s territorial waters. Maher Hamad was shot in the stomach and killed when Syrian forces fired in the direction of the trawler, Arida residents said.

During Sunday’s funeral for Hamad, angry residents shouted anti-Syria slogans and called for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the tense Lebanese-Syrian frontier to protect Lebanese citizens.

The Lebanese-Syrian border has become increasingly tense since the popular upheaval in Syria began in March last year, with several incursions by the Syrian army, the killing of Lebanese citizens by Syrian security forces, and the firing at two fishing boats in August. Syrian officials have accused Lebanese factions of smuggling weapons to Syrian protesters demanding the ousting of President Bashar Assad.

“In the face of this shameful leniency by the government, which did not act or demand an apology [from Syria] over these unacceptable attacks, the Future bloc calls on the government to emerge from the captivity of [Syrian] tutelage and go to the Arab League in a bid to stop these violations,” the bloc said.

“It is no longer permissible to leave matters as they are. Lebanon is a sovereign state and its territories and borders are not uncontrolled and uncharted,” it added.

Separately, Syrian authorities released Tuesday the boat used by the three fishermen, the state-run National News Agency said. The boat, whose engine had broken down, was towed by a Syrian fishing trawler to the Arida shore, escorted by the Syrian coast guard.

The Arida incident has sparked calls from the Future Movement and its March 14 allies for the deployment of the Lebanese Army on the frontier with Syria to protect Lebanese citizens living in border towns.

The Future bloc criticized also Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour’s stance during Sunday’s meeting of the Arab League’s foreign ministers in Cairo, accusing him of acting as a spokesman for the Syrian regime. The meeting called for Assad to step down in favor of a unity government to quell a 10-month-old unrest in which more 5,000 have been killed.

“The bloc expressed its astonishment over the way the Lebanese foreign minister behaved at the Arab League because he has become the official spokesman of the Syrian regime,” the statement said.

Mansour said Monday that an initiative proposed by the Arab League aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria was “unbalanced.”

“The decision made by the Arab League yesterday is not related at all to the report of the Arab monitors and we said this during the meeting,” Mansour told reporters on his return from Cairo.

During the meeting, Arab ministers were briefed on the report on the month of work by the monitors, which confirmed that Syria was complying with an Arab League plan to end the crisis in Syria. They decided to extend the mandate of the mission for another month. The ministers also voted on a plan that calls on Assad to transfer power to his deputy and form a national unity government to be followed by early parliamentary and presidential elections.

Syria has categorically rejected the plan while Lebanon disassociated itself from the Arab League’s decision.

Responding to the foreign minister’s remarks, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said it was preferable that Mansour “remain silent” while attending Arab League meetings.

Mansour hit back at Jumblatt Tuesday. “If silence is a golden rule, it would be better for all of us to keep silent. If we are working for democracy, while others have the right to freedom of expression, I think everyone has this right. Therefore, we do not need lessons from anyone,” Mansour said in a statement.

The Future bloc voiced regret over Syria’s “negative stance” on the Arab League initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis.

“The regime’s continued negative stance and the persistence of the security solution will increase the cost of blood and destruction for Syria. It will not help defeat the will of the Syrian people who have decided [to stage] a revolution in the hope of change and achieving democracy, freedom and a peaceful rotation of power,” the bloc said.

The bloc also rejected remarks attributed to the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard Corp, Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, that south Lebanon and Iraq fell under Iran’s influence.

“These surprising remarks, which have not been denied by their author, constitute an affront to the Lebanese and the Arabs,” the bloc said. “If Suleimani’s remarks have exposed Iran’s true view toward Lebanon and Iraq as being a platform through which the Iranian regime threatens others, all denial attempts by proxy have confirmed beyond any doubt that Iran is using Hezbollah as a means of blackmail and pressure, paying no heed to the interests of the Lebanese and the Arabs,” it added.

Suleimani, speaking in Tehran last week, said: “In reality, in south Lebanon and Iraq, the people are under the effect of the Islamic Republic’s way of practice and thinking.” The Iranian commander’s remarks have drawn harsh criticisms from March 14 politicians who demanded that Hezbollah clarify his statement. Hezbollah has not yet commented on Suleimani’s remarks.