Al-Mashnouq Says Security Plan to be Implemented in 48 Hours

Interior Minister Nuhad al-Mashnouq has said that a security plan for the northern city of Tripoli approved by the cabinet last week will be implemented in the coming few days.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper published Monday, al-Mashnouq said the deployment of security forces in some of the city's neighborhoods in the past few days comes as a prelude to the plan which will be implemented within 48 hours.

The implementation is awaiting the final preparations of the security and military leaders, he said.

“There is no longer security by consensus. Each side should assume its responsibilities,” he told As Safir.

Asked about threats made by some armed leaders in Tripoli, al-Mashnouq said: “The countdown has started and the security plan is on its way” to be implemented.

“Their talks would not change anything. There is no going back despite threats and pressure,” he added.

On Thursday, the cabinet tasked the army and security forces with seizing stockpiled arms and controlling the security situation in Tripoli and the eastern Bekaa Valley in areas bordering Syria.

An Nahar newspaper quoted a cabinet minister as saying that the security plan has become urgent after the increased attacks on the army.

A suicide bomber killed on Saturday three soldiers at the Ain Ata checkpoint in the east near the border with Syria.

The minister, who was not named, told An Nahar that the army had arrested at the checkpoint scores of gunmen infiltrating Lebanon.

An army official denied that the attack was aimed at drawing the attention of the soldiers at the blast scene to smuggle two bomb-laden cars into Lebanon.