Berri Calls for 'Security Investments' to Fight Terrorism
Speaker Nabih Berri has called for the recruitment of thousands of soldiers and security personnel to confront terrorists and help the army and security agencies thwart future attacks.
Several local dailies published on Monday quoted Berri as saying that the authorities “should invest in security.”
The speaker told visiting officials that he will urge the government to recruit 3,000 soldiers, 1,000 Internal Security Forces members and 1,000 General Security personnel.
Berri admitted that such a process requires a huge funding. “But in this way, the state will suffer less financial losses than the tourism season.”
“Investment in security let's terrorist groups and all those plotting to carry out attacks in Lebanon to think twice,” the speaker allegedly told his visitors.
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq backed Berri's proposal, telling As Safir newspaper that the number of soldiers and security personnel should increase to provide security inside Lebanon because they have made an unprecedented deployment on the border with Syria.
Berri denied that precautions taken by officials and fears of further plots were exaggerated.
He confirmed that foreign agencies, including the U.S. intelligence, have warned their Lebanese counterparts about terror plots.
On Friday, a deadly suicide car bombing hit an ISF checkpoint in Dahr al-Baydar, the entrance to the eastern Bekaa Valley. The ISF and army have also arrested over the weekend several suspected terrorists across Lebanon.
Syria's civil war has spilled over into Lebanon on multiple occasions and inflamed sectarian tensions. A series of car bombs have struck Shiite areas that are Hizbullah strongholds, killing dozens of people.
There are fears that the conflict in Iraq would also reflect on Lebanon.
Berri issued such a warning, saying all parties should unite to stop the repercussions of the Iraqi crisis from affecting the presidential elections.
Sunni militants, led by the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), have advanced in western Iraq.
ISIL aims to create an Islamic state incorporating both Iraq and Syria, where the group has become a major force in the rebellion against President Bashar Assad.
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