UK Vows Continued Support for Army, Regrets IS 'were Able to Retreat across Syria'

Chargé d’Affaires Ben Wastnage of the British embassy in Lebanon on Thursday congratulated the Lebanese Army on its successful border operation against the Islamic State group and announced that the UK remains committed to “supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

“I congratulate the Lebanese Army on the military success of the operation. This was a complex, dangerous, but successful operation whereby the Lebanese Army demonstrated yet again that it is the sole legitimate, effective and capable defender of Lebanese security,” Wastnage said in a press statement.

“I offer my sincere condolences for those Lebanese Army soldiers who were killed and injured in this operation, as well as to the families and friends of those soldiers who were abducted in 2014,” he added.

Wastnage underlined that the UK “remains committed to Lebanon’s stability and to supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces as the cornerstone of Lebanese sovereignty.”

Referring to the controversial evacuation of IS militants and their families from the Lebanese-Syrian border region to an eastern Syria area near Iraq's border, Wastnage said “it is also important to stress that Daesh (IS) is a global threat to people everywhere.”

“As such, I regret that Daesh were able to retreat across Syria, and welcome the Global Coalition’s action seeking to prevent this,” he added, referring to Wednesday's U.S.-led coalition airstrikes in Syria that were aimed at blocking IS fighters evacuated from Lebanon from reaching eastern Syria.

The militants were evacuated in buses to Syria as part of a Hizbullah-led agreement that also involved the recovery of nine bodies belonging to Lebanese troops abducted in 2014 and the handover of a Hizbullah captive and several corpses to the Iran-backed group.