National Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab opened the Lebanese Army Square in the town of Abra, East of Sidon, in honor of the Lebanese Army and its martyrs, in a ceremony held in collaboration with Lebanon Youth Movement and the Municipality of Abra.
Upon the minister’s arrival, he was welcomed by a group of Lebanese Army at the entrance of Abra, where he then unveiled the memorial consisting of an army tank and plaque and ignited the flame honoring the martyrs’ sacrifice and loyalty. Only then, he proceeded to the dedication ceremony.
The dedication ceremony was attended by a number of deputies, high-level officials, religious and public figures, mayors, members of the Municipality of Abra, and families of the Lebanese Army martyrs who died in the clashes of Abra.
Among the various speeches delivered during the ceremony, the mayor of the municipality of Abra addressed the audience, saying, “Our presence today is an expression of love and solidarity, because Abra is a city to all people and a protector of the Lebanese army, and the martyrs of the army are our children, and the families of the martyrs are our responsibility, and Abra is the capital of the army and their city and thus will remain so.”
From his side, Minister Elias Bou Saab reviewed the names of the martyrs and the wounded who fell in the clashes of Abra, saying that “this ceremony is unlike others. It is a loyalty to all those who died to keep their homeland…”
He stressed, “There will be no amnesty to those who killed the Army, and no negotiations, because negotiating in this topic mean negotiating the whole country.”
The area where the public square was opened witnessed in 2013 and over the course of several days deadly clashes in between members of the Army and followers of Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir. The clashes resulted in the death of more than a dozen soldiers and the wounding of 150 others.
