Charbel Says Security Situation in Lebanon Stable Compared to Region

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Friday that Lebanon remains one of the “very secure” countries, pointing out that the reasons behind the Nabi Sheet explosion that happened in a Hizbullah arms depot are technical.

“Lebanon remains one of the very secure countries, if we compare the local situation to the developments around us. We are still fine,” Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

He noted that whenever a security breach occurs in Lebanon, “the army swiftly intervenes and controls it.”

Asked about the Nabi Sheet explosion on Wednesday, Charbel described the reasons behind it as “technical.”

“The mortars are old and the temperature is high in the area... The explosion wasn't deliberate,” he stated.

Three Hizbullah fighters were killed and several other people wounded on Wednesday in a blast at a depot for old ammunition in the Bekaa town of Nabi Sheet, Hizbullah's media relations department said in a statement.

“The blast took place at a storehouse for old shells and ammunition and the remnants of the Israeli attacks on the area,” it added.

It identified the three victims as Ali Mustafa Alaeddine and Hasan al-Kheshen, who hail from the Western Bekaa town of Sohmor, and Jaafar al-Moussawi, who hails from Nabi Sheet.

Among the wounded were four Syrian workers.

On the confiscation of a number of weapons and ammunition in the Koura region by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau, Charbel said that those behind it haven't been identified yet.

“If we use metal detectors we would find numerous arms hidden in the ground across Lebanon,” he said.

The ISF said in a statement on Thursday that its Intelligence Bureau raided a plot of land in Btaaboura in al-Koura after obtaining information that arms were being stashed there.

The raid was carried out on Wednesday night and the arms included machine-guns, rockets, and ammunition for them.