Lebanese minister: Army may join fight if Israel invades
Defense Minister Elias Murr tells Al-Jazeera TV, ‘army will join battle against Israel if IDF forces invade country, army will prove that it is an army that deserves respect’
Lebanon's army - which so far has sat on the sidelines of theviolence raging in the country - will join the fight against Israel if Israeli forces invade the country, the defense minister said on Thursday.
"Ahlan Wa Sahlan" - Arabic for "Welcome" - the minister, Elias Murr, said on Al-Jazeera television.
"We are waiting for them so that we can defend our land, honor and dignity.
"The Lebanese army - and I stress - the Lebanese army will resist and defend and will prove that it is an army that deserves respect," he said.
In most of the previous Israeli attacks on Lebanon - including the invasions of 1978 and the 1982 invasion in which the capital Beirut was occupied - the Lebanese army largely stayed out of the fighting.
Twenty Lebanese soldiers have been killed in strikes on their bases during the nine-day-old Israeli bombardment of Lebanon.
