Tripoli Security Plan to Take Effect in Two Days

The technical and logistic preparations of the security plan for the northern city of Tripoli are underway ahead of its imminent implementation.

An Nahar daily reported that the plan will take effect in two days.

Military sources described the plan as having more of a military nature than a security one as it will include raids against weapons caches and arrests against wanted suspects.

The Army Command had received the security plan from cabinet, which approved it on Thursday, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

It will also call on all the suspects wanted from the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen and the rest of the city to turn themselves into the security forces.

The daily added that the security forces will not be lenient in implementing the plan, which will kick off in Jabal Mohsen and later Bab al-Tabbaneh.

It will include the heavy deployment of army units throughout the area and the removal of all armed presence.

Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, who hails from Tripoli, described the plan as “possibly the final chance to save the city.”

“Tripoli needs the security plan, now more than ever,” he told As Safir.

“We will follow up on the plan in order to ensure its success,” he added.

Tripoli witnesses frequent gunbattles between two of the impoverished neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh, which is dominated by Sunnis who support Syrian rebels, and Jabal Mohsen, which is dominated by Alawites, who share the same sect as Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Clashes in Tripoli have left scores of casualties over the past days alone.