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)
TT

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.



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
TT

Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.