BEIRUT: The Army is ready for the anticipated escalation with Islamist militants on Lebanon’s eastern borders, the military commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi announced Friday.

“We are ready for anything after the snow melts on the eastern mountains,” Kahwagi told a visiting delegation headed by Press Federation chief Aouni al-Kaaki.”

We are ready to face all possibilities and we are not afraid of anything, but we should remain united.”

Kahwagi also touched on the Saudi military aid package that the Lebanese Army is expected to receive from France.

“The Saudi donation of French weapons has kicked off, and the delay is due to the manufacturing process, because the weapons agreed upon have not been produced in advance,” Kahwagi explained.

Commenting on the fundamentalist group ISIS, who is among the groups operating on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, Kahwagi said: “ISIS are a bunch of hypocrites, thieves that care about money, theft and women. They have nothing to do with religion.”