Charbel: Army, ISF Will Start Deploying in Dahieh Starting Monday
Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel renewed on Friday his rejection of “autonomous” security measures in Lebanon, saying that the state's security forces alone should be tasked with such missions.
He revealed: “Starting Monday, the army, Internal Security Forces, and General Security forces will start deploying in Beirut's southern suburb of Dahieh.”
He made his remarks during a press conference after meeting with the committee tasked with following up on case of kidnapped Lebanese pilgrims held in Syria.
Al-Akhbar newspaper had reported on Friday that Lebanese authorities are mulling to form a 2,000-member security unit to keep security throughout Lebanese territories and mainly Beirut's southern suburbs.
The daily said that the move aims at replacing the Hizbullah members who have set up checkpoints near and inside their stronghold in the suburbs after two separate bombings there left hundreds of casualties.
But the issue is still being discussed by the involved officials and Hizbullah, it said.
Al-Akhbar quoted Charbel as saying that Hizbullah is speeding up the process to hand over the security of the suburbs to the new unit.
According to the newspaper, the plan aims at replacing security officers who carry out office work with reservists who have gone into retirement not more than five years ago.
The officers will in their turn patrol the areas that have mostly witnessed security incidents lately, it said.
Another option lies in opening a new round of enrollment to recruit and train new police and army members, it added.
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