Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Friday that the LF would support the creation of a popular brigade to defend border towns in the Bekaa against any jihadist attack, while stressing that such a paramilitary force should only operate under the supervision of the Lebanese army.
In a speech in Maarab during an LF ceremony, Geagea called for “preventing the movement of arms and gunmen convoys across the border and halting some parties' continued involvement in the Syrian conflict.”
The LF chief was apparently referring to Hizbullah, which has dispatched fighters into neighboring Syria to bolster Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime against an Islamist-led uprising.
He suggested that the Lebanese state “exert strenuous efforts with the relevant regional and international sides in order to deploy international observers along our eastern border to help the army in the mission of controlling and defending the border.”
Referring to vigilante groups that have been created in some eastern border towns to fend off any attack by Syria-based extremist groups, Geagea said he supports such a move “if it is making the residents feel reassured and safe.”