Security Plan in Dahiyeh Fortified in Attempt to Decrease Rate of Attacks

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Wednesday that the security plan adopted in Beirut's southern suburb is not similar to the one implements in Baalbek, stressing on the complete coordination between the Army and the Internal Security Forces.

“Everyone supports security forces in carrying out the security plan,” Charbel said in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.

A prominent security source told the newspaper that the security plan adopted in Dahiyeh have been modified after the increase in suicide attacks in the area.

“More than 1,000 security member have been distributed in Dahiyeh recently and fixed checkpoints have been erected at its entrances,” the source said.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, the army is deploying heavily in Beirut's southern suburbs to safeguard the area and its residence.

The army is accompanied by forces from ISF, general security and state security, which are carrying out patrols and checking the identification papers of passers-by.

The limited number of the ISF members isn't enough to guarantee the security of the whole country, which made the plan restricted to only Dahiyeh at the time, Charbel pointed out.

A security plan for Dahiyeh, which has been the scene of several suicide bombings recently, was rolled out in September.

Another security plan was implement in the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern city of Baalbek.

Explosions in Lebanon have created a climate of fear in the country, with residents increasingly nervous about unfamiliar cars and certain neighborhoods.

On Monday, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive belt inside a minibus in Choueifat region in south of Beirut, wounding two people.

The blast is the fifth to hit Lebanon this year, and comes after at least four people were killed on Saturday in a suicide bombing in the eastern town of Hermel.

Many have targeted strongholds of Hizbullah, which has drawn the ire of Sunni extremist groups in part because of its role fighting alongside the regime in Syria.

Though the group appears to be the target of the attacks, those killed in the bombings have largely been civilians.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades have both claimed responsibility for deadly bombings in Lebanon.

A group calling itself the Al-Nusra Front in Lebanon has also claimed responsibility for two bomb attacks in the country, though it is unclear if the organization is officially linked to the group of the same name in Syria.