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Lebanon: Abbas Ibrahim Warns Crisis Could Be Prolonged

Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon's General Security agency is seen in Beirut, Lebanon May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon's General Security agency is seen in Beirut, Lebanon May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
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Lebanon: Abbas Ibrahim Warns Crisis Could Be Prolonged

Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon's General Security agency is seen in Beirut, Lebanon May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi
Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon's General Security agency is seen in Beirut, Lebanon May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Jamal Saidi

The head of one of Lebanon's most powerful security agencies ordered his officers to stand firm in the face of a national crisis that could be protracted, warning of the chaos that would ensue if the state collapsed.

Major General Abbas Ibrahim, in a message to General Security staff received by Reuters on Friday, said state institutions had been undermined by "the great collapse".

He was referring to a financial crisis that has gripped Lebanon for two years and plumbed new depths this month as supplies of imported fuel ran out, forcing even essential services to scale back or shut down and sparking numerous security incidents.

The meltdown has deepened international concerns about Lebanon, a country pieced back together after a 1975-90 civil war and still deeply riven by sectarian and factional rivalries.

Ibrahim noted the impact of the crisis on personnel at General Security, an intelligence and security agency whose responsibilities include control of Lebanon's border crossings.

"The crisis that Lebanon is going through may be prolonged. Your duty is steadfastness and standing as a barrier to protect your country and your people," he told staff.

Were the state to fall it would fall on everyone "and everyone will be in the eye of chaos and in the line of tension," he said.

Ibrahim also noted the crisis' impact on other security agencies and on the nation in general.

The UN secretary general on Thursday called on Lebanese leaders to form a new government urgently - something they have failed to do for a year during which the currency has collapsed by more than 90% and poverty has soared.

Foreign donors say they will provide assistance once a government is formed that embarks on reforms to address the root causes of the collapse.

President Michel Aoun, the Maronite Christian head of state, and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, have yet to agree on a new cabinet more than one month after Mikati was picked to form one.

Mikati gave no statement on Thursday after their 13th meeting.

Mikati took on the task after Saad al-Hariri, Lebanon's leading Sunni, abandoned a nine-month-long bid to form the government, saying he could not agree with Aoun and accusing him of seeking effective veto power in cabinet.

Aoun, an ally of the heavily armed, Iran-backed Shi'ite group Hezbollah, has denied this, and blamed Hariri.

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.