Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there was no evidence that Al-Qaeda militants were operating in Lebanon, countering the defence minister’s statement that the global network had sent operatives into the Lebanon-Syria border area. Grappling with a nine-month anti-government revolt, Syria has blamed Al-Qaeda for a double car bomb attack on its capital on Dec. 23 that killed 44 people and wounded more than 100. Lebanon has tried to distance itself from the events in Syria where the uprising started off in March as a wave of peaceful protests against President Bashar Assad but is now overshadowed by an armed insurrection.
“There is no firm evidence of an Al-Qaeda presence in (border area) Ersal,” Mikati told journalists. “The military entered Ersal after being informed there was a person in the area who was perhaps tied to an international terrorist group but there was no information about the presence of any organized groups or any particular organisation.”