FPM, PSP Ministers Argue on Army’s Role in Akkar
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
A request by Free Patriotic Movement cabinet ministers to task the army with controlling the security in the North and put the Internal Security Forces under its command was rejected by ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, media reports said Thursday.
Several Beirut dailies quoted sources as saying that the FPM ministers called during the session held at Baabda palace for the implementation of article four of the defense law similar to the measures taken in the eastern Bekaa valley to strike with an iron fist any attempt to tamper with the security of the northern province of Akkar.
The situation in the North badly deteriorated when on May 12 the General Security Department arrested Islamist Shadi al-Mawlawi in the city of Tripoli on charges of contacting a terrorist organization.
His seizure prompted deadly fighting between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh, which is majority Sunni, and the Alawite Jabal Mohsen that is pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Al-Mawlawi was released on bail on Tuesday but the Syrian crisis had already spilled over into Lebanon.
The situation became tenser when rival parties also fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns in Beirut early Monday, killing at least two people.
The spark for the violence was the killing on Sunday of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed, an anti-Syrian Sunni cleric, and his companion at al-Kweikhat army checkpoint in Akkar.
“The security situation in Akkar has spiraled out of control … We should either leave it for gunmen or the army should resume its control on it,” Minister Jebran Bassil, who is loyal to FPM chief Michel Aoun, told the cabinet on Wednesday.
But PSP ministers Wael Abou Faour and Ghazi Aridi rejected the proposal, saying any solution to the deterioration of the security situation should come through a political decision.
“The army is receiving a full political backing and we should help it by embracing it … and not by complicating its mission and inciting the people against it,” Abou Faour replied.
“Akkar is not Kandahar (a conflict-torn province of Afghanistan) and Tripoli is not Tora Bora (a mountainous section of eastern Afghanistan where slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding),” he stressed.
As Safir daily quoted ministerial sources as saying that the FPM ministers were seeking to put their request for a vote but they decided to wait until next week to see how the security situation would evolve.
A statement read by Information Minister Walid al-Daouq on Wednesday, said the cabinet voiced support for the army and promised to provide it with all the necessary tools to enable it to protect the country.
The cabinet also tasked the ministers of defense and interior to submit recommendations aimed at activating the role of security agencies.
24 May 2012, 08:32
81
It is walid beik who started the attack on the army, (Three to four weeks ago), he is now silent waiting for the outcome. This guy and every MP who stands behind him should be put in jail, or better go support the Free Syrian Army in their fight and save the Syrian People.
24 May 2012, 08:39
34
I have never seen any major political publishing website (CNN, Yahoo, AFP, BBC) with an administrator that has to approve a comment!!! Naharnet Sucks, it is not like the admin. is checking for a fowl language, but a certain political views.
24 May 2012, 09:05
28
fpm are trying to put more oil on the fire while evryone else is trying to find ways to defuse the tensions.
if they get what they are asking for, the result will be a divided army. they claim they support the army? what a way to show it!
logically how can they expect the sunnis in the army who represent nearly 40% of the army(of which 25% come from Akkar) to accept being against their families? what they are asking for is a recipe for disaster.
25 May 2012, 11:15
10
Geha do you think all Akkar sunnis are Salafis!!??? man a smal minority of salafis is living among a large group of normal people with healthy minds. so the Lebanese Army will be fighting the thugs not the general population
25 May 2012, 11:35
00
with this comment you proved how little you know about akkar and the north.
24 May 2012, 11:40
15
amazing! each day I s=discover how stupid and ignorant FT is! :)
frm my comment he took out a small part, making it out of context, and concludes stupidities....
please we need to assemble donations to send him back to school ....
24 May 2012, 11:41
15
amazing! each day I s=discover how stupid and ignorant FT is! :)
from my comment he took out a small part, making it out of context, and concludes stupidities....
please we need to assemble donations to send him back to school ....
24 May 2012, 11:41
16
amazing! each day I discover how stupid and ignorant FT is! :)
from my comment he took out a small part, making it out of context, and concludes stupidities....
please we need to assemble donations to send him back to school ....
24 May 2012, 12:05
16
if ever there is a sectarian person on this site, it would be you FT. you are a true disgrace to the lebanese people.
24 May 2012, 12:06
16
if ever there is a sectarian person on this site, it would be you FT. you are a true disgrace to the lebanese people.
24 May 2012, 15:43
26
When law and security cannot be maintained, military authorities take control in order to restore order. This is what martial law is. I don't know if I've been missing something, but I did not read about any riots or destruction of property in Akkar. What warrants these suggestions the FPM is putting forth? These actions are taken when civil disobedience becomes widespread. When authorities kill an innocent person, emotions are high whether it happens in Akkar, in the French suburbs, or in the allies of the Bronx. This is a time to act calmly and wisely, not to indulge in confrontational behavior and drag the army into it.
24 May 2012, 19:22
16
@slash, please don't forget that FlameThrower aka scumbag wants us to be shot in the head and dissolved in acid which until today he has not retracted or apologized for.
24 May 2012, 19:22
14
@slash, please don't forget that FlameThrower aka scumbag wants us to be shot in the head and dissolved in acid which until today he has not retracted or apologized for.
24 May 2012, 19:29
04
I am trying real hard to finance a PS3 for you. Kids should not play with matches, wish death upon others and threaten people indiscriminately. Your are a pathetic acne ridden teenager from hell with too much time on your hands.
24 May 2012, 19:30
15
You hate Jews and you want to exterminate them, so yeah you fit the bill.
24 May 2012, 19:56
14
FPM is trying to manipulate the public opinion and persuade them that akkar is filled with bloody islamists worse than in afghanistan!
1/ it shows they do not know akkar
2/ they insult a big majority of whom constitutes the lebanese army coming from akkar
3/ it is just a populist stance to please their sheep and create division among lebanese...
they want to create fear in the population , shame on them....
24 May 2012, 19:58
15
moreover they forget on purpose that akkar is made of christian muslim villages living in harmony...
24 May 2012, 23:03
00
I agree, but still we mustn´t forget that Akkar gives also home to people sheltering terrorists and other people fighting guerilla-like in Syria. And because of that we are now in a situation in which christians and muslims living in harmony are constrained in their every day life.
24 May 2012, 23:00
13
law and order starts with arresting the suspects in the crime of hariri, with giving out the telecom data on the gaegae attempt, enforcing the laws in da7iye, law and order starts with punishing the killers of sameer 7ana, there is no law and order no more and people will not accept to be treated like 3rd class no more, get it thru ur head.
25 May 2012, 11:37
00
see the problem is: who are you to decide to withhold the data, whether bogus or not?
the minister has asked for it and fpm keeps blocking his request. what does this mean? accessory to a murdor attempt...
