Lebanese Interior Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Fear Chaos, Further Deterioration of Security

Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi. (AFP file photo)
Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi. (AFP file photo)
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Lebanese Interior Minister to Asharq Al-Awsat: We Fear Chaos, Further Deterioration of Security

Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi. (AFP file photo)
Lebanese caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi. (AFP file photo)

The deterioration of security and safety is another concern added to the Lebanese people’s massive financial, economic, social and political problems.

Security had been largely maintained in recent months, but as the people plunge deeper in crisis, the threat of instability grows.

The dire economy has led to a rise in crime and theft. Some people have said they no longer go out at night except for emergencies, they no longer travel long distances, avoid heading to ATMs at night and no longer wear precious jewelry.

Thefts and muggings have been reported across the country in recent days. A fuel tanker was forced to stop and its shipment seized. Drivers delivering baby milk and medical supplies have also been stopped.

In one incident, one citizen was lured to the town of al-Khodr near the international highway in eastern Lebanon and was robbed of his oil shipment, worth 20 million liras, or 13,000 dollars according to the official exchange rate.

Reports have also said that people exiting supermarkets have been robbed of their groceries.

Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi said that he had warned back in March that Lebanon was on the verge of major social insecurity.

“Many people are hungry. They can tolerate many things, except seeing their children go hungry,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“As long as the situation persists, then chaos will grow, but it will not turn into total chaos,” he added.

“We will use all of our might to uphold the law and protect the people and public and private properties,” he vowed.

Information International reported a rise in murder and theft since the beginning of 2021. Murder has risen 45.5 percent and theft by 144 percent.

CEO of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis – Inegma, Riad Kahwaji said the situation will deteriorate even further given that the dispute to form a new government and tackle the country’s economic crisis is unlikely to be resolved any time soon.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that as the local currency weakens the people will find themselves confronted with more challenges in securing their daily needs.

He warned that the basic security, economic, food, education, environment, health, political and social essentials are lacking in Lebanon.

Meeting these needs is the responsibility of the state, which it has failed to do, rendering Lebanon a failed state, he added.

Kahwaji said it was normal to witness a rise in theft and crime. “Lebanon is in a state of freefall and no one knows how and when this tragedy will end.”

Given the mounting insecurity, people have resorted to protecting their homes, such as installing new doors or acquiring guard dogs.

Randa al-Habr, 44, told Asharq Al-Awsat: “This is the first time in years that I no longer feel safe.”

“I don’t feel safe at home or on the street. Unfortunately, I believe immigration is the only way out for me,” she lamented.



Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
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Hamas Says Ready to Free All Hostages at Once in Gaza Truce Phase Two

The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
The sun sets behind heavily damaged residential buildings in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on February 17, 2025, as people return to northern parts of Gaza during a current ceasefire deal in the war between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Hamas signaled on Wednesday that it was willing to free all remaining hostages held in Gaza in a single swap during the next phase of an ongoing ceasefire.  

Israel and Hamas are currently in the process of implementing phase one of the fragile truce, which has held since taking effect on January 19 despite accusations of violations on both sides.  

Israel's foreign minister said on Tuesday that talks would begin "this week" on the second phase, which is expected to lay out a more permanent end to the war.

"We have informed the mediators that Hamas is ready to release all hostages in one batch during the second phase of the agreement, rather than in stages as in the current first phase," senior Hamas official Taher al-Nunu told AFP.

He did not clarify how many hostages were currently being held by Hamas or other armed groups.  

Nunu said this step was meant "to confirm our seriousness and complete readiness to move forward in resolving this issue, as well as to continue steps towards cementing the ceasefire and achieving a sustainable truce".  

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli hostages have been released so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners freed from Israeli jails in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.  

Wednesday's offer came after Israel and Hamas announced a deal for the return of all six remaining living hostages eligible for release under phase one in a single swap this weekend.  

Hamas also agreed on Tuesday to return the bodies of eight dead hostages in two groups this week and next.  

After the completion of the first phase, 58 hostages will remain in Gaza.  

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad said on Wednesday that it would release the body of Israeli hostage Oded Lifshitz on Thursday. The group said Lifshitz was one of the hostages killed during Israeli strikes on Gaza.  

- 'Room to pressure Hamas' -  

Muhammad Shehada, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that after more than a year of devastating Israeli assault in Gaza, "Hamas wants to prevent the war resuming at any cost", albeit with some "red lines".  

"And one of those red lines is that they should continue to exist, basically, whereas (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's position is that they should dismantle themselves," he said.  

Since the start of the war, Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas's capacity to fight or govern, something the group has rejected.  

But the appearance that Washington is now in complete alignment with Netanyahu's government, as displayed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit this week, strengthened the Israeli premier's hand in negotiations, according to Michael Horowitz, an expert at the risk management consultancy Le Beck International.  

It gives Netanyahu "more room to pressure Hamas", Horowitz said, adding that US President Donald Trump "prefers that the agreement moves forward, but he's leaving the field open to Netanyahu... as long as the ceasefire is maintained".  

- 'Held onto hope' -

Among the bodies Hamas said it would hand over on Thursday are those of Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, Kfir and Ariel, who have become national symbols in Israel of the hostages' ordeal.  

The boys' father Yarden Bibas was taken hostage separately on October 7, 2023, and was released alive during an earlier hostage-prisoner swap.  

While Hamas said Shiri Bibas and her boys were killed in an Israeli air strike early in the war, Israel has never confirmed this, and many supporters remain unconvinced of their deaths, including members of the Bibas family.  

"I ask that no one eulogize my family just yet. We have held onto hope for 16 months, and we are not giving up now," the boys' aunt, Ofri Bibas, wrote on Facebook late Tuesday following Hamas's announcement.  

Israeli authorities have confirmed that the remains of four hostages are due to be returned on Thursday, although they have not officially named them.  

The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has acted as go-between in the exchanges, called for a respectful handover of the hostages' remains.  

"We once again call for all releases to be conducted in a private and dignified manner, including when they tragically involve the deceased," it said.  

Hamas and its allies took 251 people hostage during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead.  

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.  

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,297 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.  

Since the war began, Israeli forces have detained hundreds of Gazans, some of whom have been released in previous rounds of hostage-prisoner exchanges.