Berri Warns Offenders: Bekaa Will Not Remain Your Safe Haven
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Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Tuesday offenders in the Bekaa valley that they will eventually have no choice but to hand themselves over to security forces, flee the country or face death ahead of the implementation of a security plan in the area.
The speaker stressed that the implementation of the security plan this time will not be like its predecessors, stressing that the security forces will remain deployed in the area until all violators are apprehended.
“The Bekaa will not remain a safe haven for fugitives, who are compelled to hand themselves over to security forces, flee the country, or head to the grave,” Berri was quoted as saying by his visitors in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq announced recently the Central Security Council discussed the measures that will be implemented in the Bekaa to maintain stability.
The minister said that an agreement was reached by all the political powers to carry out strict security measures in the Bekaa, refusing to reveal the zero-hour for the operation.
“No one will be covered,” Berri stressed, pointing out that the residents of the Bekaa will benefit from the security plan as the violators are harming them.
The head of the AMAL movement also remarked that the security plans implemented across the country should be accompanied with “development projects, in particular in the Bekaa and (the northern district of) Akkar.”
Increasing crime, thefts and abductions in the Bekaa have intensified although the state institutions have launched a number of campaigns to combat the trend.
The army launched a crackdown on assailants in Beirut's southern suburbs and several other areas in an attempt to halt security chaos across the country.
Security violations have been increasing recently in Lebanon amid a rise in attacks by jihadists and Islamist militants in the country, most recently when nine people were killed and more than 37 injured after a double suicide bombing in Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen.
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