Lebanese army chief: Syrian militants' attack on Ersal premeditated

Lebanon's Army chief General Jean Kahwaji on Sunday said that the attacks by armed Islamist militants on military posts in the border town of Ersal near Syria, which began yesterday and continued into today, was premeditated.
"The terrorist attack yesterday was not an attack by chance or coincidence. It was planned previously, a long time ago, awaiting the appropriate time," Kahwaji said in a televised news conference in Beirut.
Denying that the attack followed the arrest of a militant leader by the army, Kahwaji said that the chief militant confessed they were planning attacks against the military.
General Kahwaji added that 10 troops were killed in the clashes with the militants, while 25 others were wounded and 13 missing; they might have been taken POWs by the militants.
According to Kahwaji, the Army has regained control over most of Ersal.
In the meantime, the Army chief stressed that they would not allow what is going on in neighboring Syria and Iraq to extend to Lebanon, saying that the Lebanese Army is ready to face extremists.
He also underlined the necessity of addressing the security situation of the Syrian refugees in the country, drawing the attention of political and religious officials to what is "plotted against Lebanon." The Lebanese Army has been engaging in clashes with Syrian Islamist militants after the attack on military posts in Ersal.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's National News Agency today said that the Lebanese Army has regained its barracks near Ersal Technical School, after it fell under the control of insurgents who attacked the Army unit's posts earlier Sunday afternoon.
The violent clashes have caused many of the Ersal people to flee to nearby villages in the Beqaa, but insurgents prevented them by force.
In a related development, Hezbollah expressed full support to the Lebanese Army's steps in the face of the "terrorist attacks" saying that "we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our military institution in confronting the threats against our country's unity, sovereignty and stability.
"The continuation of crimes committed by organized terrorist groups, covered externally and justified internally, are proof enough of the threats and dangers surrounding Lebanon and all its people," indicated Hezbollah in a statement on Sunday, commenting on the attacks against the Lebanese Army and security forces in Ersal.