Higher Defense Council Discusses Security Plan, Suleiman Calls for Adoption of Defense Strategy

Outgoing President Michel Suleiman chaired a meeting on Sunday for the Higher Defense Council at the Baabda Palace.

Suleiman called for safeguarding security agencies and providing the army with the necessary needs, the state-run National News Agency reported.

He also urged officials to adopt the country's defense strategy.

Higher Defense Council chief General Mohammed Kheir, who read the statement, said that high-ranking security officials briefed gatherers on the implemented security measures and the course of a security plan implemented in the northern city of Tripoli and the northern Bekaa valley.

Kheir said that Prime Minister Tammam Salam also discussed the local political situation and the stability of institutions.

Salam also called on politicians to further support the security plan.

The security plan was first implemented in Tripoli in an attempt to put an end to the clashes that frequently erupt between the city's rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

It was then implemented in the Bekaa region, with the security forces cracking down on gunmen, car theft gangs, and other outlaws.

H.K.