Charbel: No Fears over Lebanon from Possible Syria Strike

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel ruled out that Lebanon would suffer from the repercussions of a possible U.S. military strike on the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“There are no fears on Lebanon from the consequences of a military strike that the international community could carry out on Syria,” Charbel told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper published on Sunday.

He said the authorities were taking measures to resolve the issue of Syrian refugees and the security problems.

The General Security Department proved its effectiveness on the border with Syria, Charbel told the daily.

There are fears in Lebanon that any U.S. strike in Syria would lead to a further refugee influx.

The caretaker minister rejected the search of vehicles owned by the Kuwaiti and Saudi embassies by Hizbullah members near Beirut's southern suburbs.

“Only the Lebanese army and security forces should set up checkpoints and carry out inspections,” he said.

Hizbullah has recently taken strong security measures in its stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs and has established checkpoints at the entrances to Dahieh after two separate bombings left hundreds of casualties.

On Friday, the Saudi embassy filed a complaint with the foreign ministry after one of its cars was inspected at a Hizbullah checkpoint.

A day later, the Kuwaiti mission filed a similar protest after a Kuwaiti citizen was stopped at one of the checkpoints.