Asiri Says Measures Boosted near Embassy: We Trust Security Agencies Would Protect Us

Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri stressed on Wednesday that the Saudi embassy in Beirut increased its measures to avert any possible security threats.

“We have taken all the necessary precautions and the Lebanese state, according to norms, is responsible for the security of the embassy,” Asiri said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

He pointed out that the embassy is in continuous contact with the Lebanese authorities to fortify the security measures amid the circumstances that the country is passing through.

“We are certain that the embassy will have the required security care,” Asiri added.

Last week, media reports said that the embassy of a Gulf country was advised to step up its security measures and take maximum precautions to avert a double suicide bombing by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. However, the mission was not specified.

Informed sources told al-Hayat newspaper that the mission mentioned in the report is the Saudi embassy.

“A German security agency is suspected to be the source of the security leak,” the sources added.

Security forces are thoroughly inspecting vehicles and passers-by near the embassy location in Hamra's Bliss street, and cement barricades were erected.

Lebanon became ensnared in the complex conflict of the near four-year war in Syria after militants from ISIL and the al-Qaida-affiliate al-Nusra Front engaged in a bloody fighting with the Lebanese army in August and took with them hostages from the military and police.

The Jihadists remain entrenched on the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal on the porous Syrian-Lebanese border.

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