Beirut to Witness Implementation of Security Plan in June

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has said that a security plan for Beirut is expected to witness light in June as another cabinet minister stressed that no party wants to create chaos.

Al-Mashnouq told Beirut MPs that the capital will see more security measures in the coming days to arrest wrongdoers, according to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Wednesday.

The army and security forces have already implemented a security plan in the northern city of Tripoli and the eastern Bekaa Valley, arresting scores of gunmen and members of gangs involved in car thefts and kidnappings in return for ransom.

Meanwhile, An Nahar daily quoted a cabinet minister as saying that no one from the rival Lebanese parties has an interest in tampering with security.

“Any security chaos would be caused by parties abroad,” the minister, who was not named, said.

On the political situation in Lebanon, the minister said: “The government is not willing to take the place of the president. It will exercise its authorities and won't infringe on them unless it is very necessary do so in favor of the country's highest interest.”

President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ended on Sunday. But he left Baabda Palace with a vacant seat after the parliament failed to elect a successor over the differences between the rival parties on a consensual candidate.

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