Army Arrests 14 as Tripoli Security Plan Gets Underway
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The army deployed heavily on Tuesday in the northern city of Tripoli as it started implementing a security plan established by the government to end violence in the area, as President Michel Suleiman urged officials to deal firmly with all who violate the peace.
Army units began deploying heavily since 6:00 a.m. in al-Qobbeh area and Jabal Mohsen.
The army began removing the barricades and sandbags from the area and carried out raids to detain suspects.
Checkpoints were also erected, intensified patrols were carried out and checked the identification papers of passers-by.
It carried out raids in the areas of the Hariri project, al-Baqqar, al-Naamani, Hayy al-Tanak, al-Amercan, Bab al-Hadid, internal markets, al-Qobbeh, and Bab al-Ramel, the Army Command said in a statement.
Fourteen suspects were arrested and a number of weapons and military equipment were confiscated.
The National News Agency said that 21 suspects were arrested.
Security forces, according to NNA, detained 10 suspects in the areas of Jabal Mohsen, al-Qobbeh and al-Bqar, including five from al-Mawlawi family from the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood.
According to LBCI, the army will enforce the plan in Bab al-Tabbaneh on Wednesday.
Last week, 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.
The plan took into consideration the recommendations of the Higher Defense Council.
Suleiman later held talks with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and Army chief General Jean Qahwaji on the Tripoli plan.
He expressed his “satisfaction with the plan and the sacrifices made to ensure stability and the nation and people's security.”
Commenting on the plan later on Tuesday, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that it is not “directed by one side against another, but it targets security to put the people at ease.”
“Anyone who violates security will be held accountable,” he stressed.
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 during the last round.
More than 1,400 Internal Security Forces members are cooperating with the army to implement the security plan to restore calm in Tripoli.
The army also raided and searched the house of Arab Democratic Party politburo chief Rifaat Eid in Jabal Mohsen.
Two helicopters overflew the area simultaneously for surveillance as communication in the area was cut off.
Cameras and two handheld transceivers were reportedly seized at Eid's house.
A source denied in comments published in As Safir newspaper that wanted suspects in the rival neighborhoods left the city.
Media reports said on Saturday that head of the Arab Democratic Party Ali Eid left Lebanon to Syria, accompanied by his son, Rifaat.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr convicted 21 people in the case of the double blast that targeted two mosques in Tripoli last summer.
Among the convicted were Ali Eid and the head of the pro-Syria Islamic Tawhid Movement-Command Council, Sheikh Hashem Minkara.
H.K./M.T.
G.K.
01 April 2014, 08:45
59
VDL (93.3): The army raided the house of Arab Democratic Party politburo chief Rifaat Eid.
Why did they have to wait for Eid to flee before going in there? could it be to never bring him to justice? His running away is proof enough of his guilt.. and people here still talk about al-qaida with people like him and smaha being sent... for all we know every explosion in Lebanon could be Syrian made in order to give us the chills from the al-qaida and takfiri boogeyman.. not saying it is .. but with cases like this, seems very plausible indeed.
01 April 2014, 08:48
39
on another note.. how sad is it that our army needs a million people to give the ok before it can do it's job...and we call this a country??? i hope that all weapons end up in their hands only.. then they wont need to wait for anyone to nod his/her head...
02 April 2014, 16:32
00
speaking of smaha.. 2 years and yet no trial in sight... i'm still waiting to see the evidence, news reports don't constitute proof of anything.
whether he is guilty or not is not is not the question here, what worries me is that figures can be arrested based on denunciations and kept in jail for years without trial or proof (we remember the 4 generals and the fake witnesses, and smaha's case that relies on an anonymous "informant" who was smuggled out of the country)
the same applies to eid apparently since all they have is denunciations/confessions (extracted under threat of torture)... who would willingly surrender himself, even if innocent, to a system like this?
01 April 2014, 12:02
95
And ... It looks like many of the "alley way commanders" will not be charged so that they do not testify against their political patrons ...
hint ... Mikati, Hariri, Rifi ... and other MPs ...
01 April 2014, 12:20
69
when the leader of the terror party is arrested along with his politburo and Ali Eid, then come and talk about other arrests.
01 April 2014, 13:32
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Lol. You also forget that there are commanders on both fronts. The other side will also not be arrested so that they do not testify against their political patrons.
Hint... Nassy. Berri. Assad. And other m8 MPs.
01 April 2014, 14:17
47
Your house is in glass so you can't even begin to throw rocks at others bone head.
Nasrallah the Lebanese cancer is still free....post 2006 massive Lebanese infrastructure destruction and 1500 Lebanese citizens killed, add all the car bombs assassinations.
01 April 2014, 14:51
23
FD i agree... and i stated that before, that anyone who is not a member of the LAF, ISF or any other state security apparatus and is holding a gun, needs to be shot at. But that includes ALL groups. i.e. HA, AMAL, Marada, LF, Tawhid, PSP, ANYONE. We cannot pic a few armed parties and say we will crack down on them, it will never work.
01 April 2014, 14:57
55
Ya Arzak Ya Libnan, wallaw, Hezbollah is the the Army of God... they are untouchable .. how dare you talk about them like this ?
Hezbollah fighters are soldiers of ALLAH sent to protect Lebanon with divine powers and divine victories bringing death and destruction to all enemies of Lebanon.
They are righteous human beings cleansed of all Sin, Just and above all blessed with supreme wisdom ! They are angels sent to earth to wash away our sins ...
LAF can shoot the rest though...
01 April 2014, 09:13
57
If people were loyal only to Lebanon and it's army and ISF, then none of this would ever have happened to begin with. Instead Tripoli and other parts of the country have become a microcosm for foreign wars and rivalries. Keep the soldiers and innocents safe.
01 April 2014, 09:45
68
Ali Eid was given advance notice to pack even his kitchen knives and forks. He was escorted in an official vehicle out of his residence and treated like a VIP. Naive he who thinks the army will find anything in his office or home. This is the terror party's approved security security plan and they would not have it any other way.
01 April 2014, 14:18
12
This is at long last a right move in the right direction. However it will remain impaired if the LAF and ISF do not start to search every single home in both areas, and confiscate every single weapon they can lay their hands on. Once done, Tripoli will regain its calm. Then Tripoli is not alone, there are so many areas in Lebanon where the LAF need to seize weapons, there too, the LAF must do the same. Then last but not least, let us close our borders, even without formal demarcation with Syria, their refugee camps in Lebanon also hide weapons, of both pro and anti Regime.
01 April 2014, 14:39
23
we all know HA is not willing to do this, and therefore the Sunni militias will not hand in their weapons either, and will attack the force that is taking their weapons while ignoring the others.
What to do? well i dont think we can do anything, we have over a million Syrians in Lebanon,if only 5% of them are fighters that is 50,000 soldiers.with HA having a comparable force, the rock and the hard place are bound to meet soon.
01 April 2014, 14:40
13
phoenix.good to have you back after a long vacation...
i am with you in many of your points,including the confiscation of weapons.but when we say the confiscation of weapons it has to be ALL weapons,including that of the "resistance" or it will never work.
look at what just happened.as soon as Eid goes to Syria,the army gets the green light to storm his house. Where was the storming prior to him running away? why can some get away with the same thing others are crucified for?if we think for one minute that this will die down with just a security plan we are sadly mistaken.
the only thing that will get us out of this mess is the implementation of a NATIONAL security plan, and not a regional one. A plan that will take all weapons and place them under the control of the army and the state.
01 April 2014, 15:44
11
Good to see you too Arzak. I fully concur with your post, unfortunately such loopholes in the LAF too must be addressed, as you rightly pointed out, either it be done in full, or it be back to square one.
01 April 2014, 15:34
43
I am talking about the LAF getting the green light to raid Eids house after Eid left.. take a breath Roar.
And a Child knows that Smaha was sent by the syrian govt. and is allied to HA and the pro-syrian camp... and we now know that the bombings in Tripoli of the 2 mosques were done by Eid, another syrian lackey, under probable orders from the Syrian govt.
So you sit back and let that soak in.. and tell me who is creating chaos.
yes i know.. to you it will always be those takfiris (even thogh smaha was sent specifically to orchestrate "takfiri" attacks .. and al-qaida.. and everything that isnt as obvious as the truth..
01 April 2014, 16:05
56
Yet "someone" deemed that the person who caught him red handed (Wissam el Hassan) should be assassinated in a terrorist act ! Who other than Bashar OR Hezbollah would want revenge ? Takfiris ?
Even if Hezbollah was not involved, the Syrian regime is and Hezbollah is guilty of siding with them !
01 April 2014, 16:07
55
Roar : "Leaving the borders open was planned & payed big $$$ to some at the top"
You're aware that the reason our borders with Syria are open is mainly for Hezbollah's weapons and drug smuggling operations ? Drugs used to be smuggled out of the country in Syrian army trucks, now Hezbollah handles this...
01 April 2014, 16:08
57
ROar : "I aM TIRED of thieves"
If so, please refer to your Berri, Nasrallah and their partners. We're also tired of thieves ...
01 April 2014, 16:36
44
Everytime you have nothing to say, you accuse me of stealing someone's name.
I'm not stealing... My name is not _.-._FlameThrower_.-._, it's FlameCatcher. And unless you can prove "Flame" is a registered trademark, then please try and argue with me instead of hiding your head in the ground and crying foul like an italian footballer faking it !
01 April 2014, 18:00
23
Roar I beg to differ. From day one people said it is the ISF who got the confession from eids driver and they all said that the ISF cannot be trusted.
And if we recal many in m14 called for the army to control the border. Even going as far as to ask the govt to ask for UN border patrols. Suggestions to which HA refused.
Look at our country. Who has the biggest advantage of an open border. Who get tons of weapons from Syria before and now? I agree the border has to be closed. But can the army close it to HA weapons and soldiers? No. And as I said before you cannot curse one set of weapons while holding another set ( both ilegal) high. You cannot close of the border to one set of people while turning a blind eye to another set crossing it freely.
01 April 2014, 18:03
22
And the main issue with cases like smaha and Eid is that it is obvious that the Syrian govt is part of this "takfiri" boogeyman and it is plausible that one or more of the bombs set off in Lebanon and attacks on the LAF were masterminded by them and executed by their people here.
01 April 2014, 19:39
21
And I am glad you could not come up with a response to the fact that Syrian govt is part of this takfiri phenomenon and could most likely be part of some of the bombings blamed on takfiris.
01 April 2014, 20:40
21
In the second article read down and you will see the call for border control. And I said that nobody besides Aoun called for border control. But will this border control be selective or all inclusive?
01 April 2014, 16:02
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wlak ya phoenix1 we missed you. I asked about you and cedre said you were in Kenya.
01 April 2014, 16:51
44
You're right ... but you get me :) typing too fast and not proof reading
01 April 2014, 21:39
22
Exactly, I have the feeling, a new Sabra Shatila is on our hands. The army will leave jabal as soon as the Salafis attack, the army destroyed all barricades and heavy positions in Jabal. Now i fear a massacre will take place.
02 April 2014, 04:47
20
Mystic,
If your prophecy materialized, that will indeed be a huge loss for Bachar and HA.
My desire would be for that to happen andd then immediately the LAF attack the Salafists you mention and do to them what they did to Jabal Mohsen........ this would be a double strike/win for Lebanon.
02 April 2014, 04:55
02
I can assure you, if any harms comes to the Jabal Me7sen residents, it will be avenged on the streets of Beirut and elsewhere. Mark my words carefully.
01 April 2014, 21:41
23
Why didn't they clear Tabbaneh out? Because they know Jabal Me7sen wont shoot the LAF thats why, the salafis will use this as an advantage and probaly ethnic cleanse the whole neighbourhood.
02 April 2014, 04:49
10
Neutering Jabal Mohsen and Baba Altabneh is not ethnic cleansing but rather traitor cleansing. Ali Eid went home to his Daddy and that is where he belongs.
02 April 2014, 05:00
02
The LAF did not enter Tabbaneh yet, because the salafis targets the army with no doubts. If this security plan is to work, then they have to neutralize all fighters and not just Jabal Me7sen. The ISF are simply paving the way for attack on the 3alawi residents. To ethnic cleanse Tripoli of all minorities.
