Mashnouq Says ISF Starts Deploying in Bekaa ahead of Security Plan
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said on Thursday that a large number of security members were transferred from the northern city of Tripoli to the eastern Bekaa valley as the implementation of the security plan reached the zero hour.
“We have transferred hundreds of Internal Security Forces' members and officers to the Bekaa ahead of the enforcement of the security plan in the area,” Mashnouq said in remarks published in An Nahar newspaper.
He pointed out that the forces will need around a week at least to start deployment along checkpoints in the area.
The army kicked off on Saturday preliminary measures ahead of the implementation of the northern and central Bekaa security plan.
Media reports said that the army was handed over from Hizbullah checkpoints between the regions of Baalbek and al-Hermel and in Arsal, which is considered the first sign of the implementation of the plan.
The Bekaa security plan is similar to the one executed in Tripoli.
The impact of the Syrian crisis has also been felt in the Bekaa, with the army arresting a number of gunmen attempting to enter Lebanon illegally from the neighboring country and seizing booby-trapped vehicles that were to be used in terrorist attacks in Lebanon.
Asked about the parliament's endorsement of a draft-law on the full-time employment of Civil Defense volunteers, Mashnouq hailed the decision in his comments to An Nahar.
“It was a nice way to repay those who had stood by the Lebanese at the most difficult times it passed through,” he pointed out.
On Wednesday, the parliament approved a draft-law on the employment of Civil Defense volunteers that compels them to undergo a state exam. But it canceled an article, which gives compensation to retirees, a move that is likely to stir anger among them.
The approval of the draft-law came after the volunteers held a protest at downtown Beirut's Riad Solh Square.
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