Lebanon declares open-ended war with jihadi militants

Lebanon’s Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi has declared an open-ended war with Islamist militants on the Syria border after seven soldiers were killed in recent attacks, The Daily Star reported.

“Our battle with terrorism and terrorists is an open-ended war, and we expect it to be a war of attrition, especially after we penetrated deep into the outskirts and remote zones,” Kahwagi said in comments published Thursday by local daily An-Nahar.

Kahwagi indicated that Islamist extremist groups – ISIS and Nusra Front – had been shaken up by the Army’s “pre-emptive strikes.”

“It the terrorists are now responding to the Army’s pre-emptive strikes against them, these strikes were many and there will be more and consistent pre-emptive strikes,” Kahwagi warned the jihadists.

Kahwagi, however, evaded a direct response when asked whether the militants’ recent deadly attacks against the Lebanese Army were linked to the arrest of Saja Dulaimi, the ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.

"The woman was arrested 15 days ago after intense monitoring that began two months ago; and our goal was to confirm her identity."

Kahwagi also would not link recent attacks against the Army in northeast Lebanon to Dulaimi’s detention.

"Terrorist organizations are not a classical army and we except everything from this enemy,” he said, adding that the Army had dealt several hard blows to jihadists.