The Lebanese Security General’s latest decision to issue Iranian travelers entering the country landing slips instead of stamping their passports has created controversy, especially amidst mounting US and Western pressures on Tehran.
The General Security asserted that such decisions are "entirely within its jurisdiction,” and do not mean that Iranians have entered the country illegally.
On Sunday, the Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying: “The General Security decided on stamping landing slips instead of passports,” adding that the role of the ministry is limited only to reporting such decision.
Experts said that such development could not be placed outside regional developments and had two objectives: to facilitate the transfer of Iranian money to Hezbollah away from any US sanctions, and the transfer of Iranians to Beirut and then to Syria, where they are fighting alongside the Assad regime.
Commentators on social media compared the Security General decision to a “military line” between Lebanon and Syria.
A source close to the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat on Sunday that the decision was new to the Iranians, but it has been applied for other countries in the past years.
“This procedure does not mean Iranians are illegally entering the country or that their names are not registered at the Security General,” the source said.
However, Lebanese Forces deputy Wehbi Katisha and head of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs Sami Nader both agreed that such procedures could not be separated from developments happening in the region, particularly in Syria.
“The decision is illegal and unconstitutional,” Katisha told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Such measures hide ambiguous intentions.”
He said this decision would aim to transfer money to people sanctioned by the US and to allow members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards entry into Lebanon before heading to Syria.
For his part, Nader told Asharq Al-Awsat that the decision would benefit Iranians in the transfer of experts and fighters to Syria via Beirut’s airport or the transfer of money to Lebanon and particularly to Hezbollah, in light of the current US sanctions against Iran.
