British Watchtowers Saved Christian Town in Lebanon From IS Massacre

MOSCOW, December 1 (Sputnik) – A clandestine British squad is credited with saving a Christian town in Lebanon from Islamic State (IS) militants by building a network of watchtowers along the border with Syria, the Telegraph informed.

Back in July, the British team built 12 towers along the border between Lebanon and Syria, preventing the IS from “massacring” residents of the Christian town of Ras Baalbek.

“They [IS] want these big symbolic victories – you bust through a border, you carry out a massacre and you get the attention,” Tom Fletcher, the British ambassador to Lebanon, told the Telegraph. The watchtowers allowed the Lebanese army to spot advancing IS forces and stop them before the militants could cross the Lebanese border, the Telegraph said.

Ras Baalbek is home to around 5,000 people who are mainly Christians. Lebanon itself has about two million Christians.

Local residents expressed their gratitude for the British help. “During the time of the crisis, the watchtowers helped to protect us,” said Faris Mansour, a 76-year old resident of Ras Baalbek, as quoted by the International Business Times. “We were concerned about what was happening in Iraq and Syria. We were watching the news all the time, and we thought the violence would happen here”.

The watchtowers were quickly constructed along the Syrian border in July and were finished in less than two weeks and were able to deter a major attack on the Lebanese border. The lookout points are said to have cost the British taxpayers £150,000 ($235,000).