LAF officer plays down massing of 10,000 Syrian troops on border

Thousands of Syrian troops have amassed along the Lebanese border in what Damascus says is an effort to combat smuggling, Lebanese military sources said on Monday, stoking speculation and concern in Lebanon. A source in the Lebanese Army confirmed that Syrian forces had deployed in the northern region of Abbudiya, but he told The Daily Star, "There is no need to worry."

"The troop deployment on the northern border relates to Syrian internal affairs," he said, adding that the Lebanese Army has been "watching the border closely for some time now."

The army source said that the troops were deployed to thwart smuggling across the Syrian-Lebanese border, and that Damascus had informed Lebanon before the operation.

A separate military source told The Daily Star that the troop build-up was nothing more than an "ordinary Syrian military maneuver."

The size of the deployment has, nevertheless, alarmed some in Lebanon.

According to a Lebanese Army spokesman quoted by AFP, "Nearly 10,000 Syrian special forces have been deployed in the Abbudiya region along the border between Lebanon and Syria." More