A prominent Lebanese journalist recently made a statement claiming that the Lebanese Army had been asked to form a military government in Lebanon. Here’s what we know about this.
Claim: The United States has asked the Lebanese Armed Forces to form a military government, suggesting a security vacuum that will envelop Lebanon.
Verdict: False. The Lebanese Army denied the claim in a statement.
Context:
During an interview with MTV on Sunday, Salem Zahran, Director of the Lebanese Media Focal Center, said: “The Americans asked the army commander to form a military government, and the latter refused.”
“The West is giving signals to the Lebanese Army to suggest that the next stage is the vacuum and that the army will fill the security vacuum,” he added.
In response to Zahran’s remarks, the Lebanese Army has issued a statement in which it denied his claim that the Lebanese Army Command had received any such requests.
“A journalist has provided information in which he claimed that a country had asked the army commander to form a military government, and he mentions other positions that dealt with the military establishment,” the statement started.
“The army command is concerned with making it clear that all that was mentioned by the aforementioned journalist are analyses that have nothing to do with reality.”
The Lebanese Army went on to note that everything it does stems from 2 basic things.
“The first is protecting the security stability in the country, and the second is to do everything that would secure aid to the army to enable it to perform its manifold tasks.”
It also stressed that the military institution, which implements the decisions of the political authority, “is not concerned at all with any published analyses and allegations, especially that its first and only concern at this stage is to fortify the army and provide it with the necessary capabilities to overcome these difficult and delicate circumstances that Lebanon is going through.”
The statement concluded with a request for everyone to “be aware of the sensitivity of the situation” and to refrain from involving the army “in political affairs that it has nothing to do with, [even remotely].”