Lebanese security remains robust despite presidential vacuum, minister says

As the Lebanese state continues to operate without a new president in place, the security services will take all necessary steps to maintain order, the country’s acting interior minister said on Tuesday.

Following a meeting with the Central Internal Security Council, caretaker minister Bassam Mawlawi said security is something all Lebanese require and “it is the duty of security bodies to maintain it using all available means.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese army command announced that some units “have conducted exercises that simulate dealing with protesters, conducting raids and arresting wanted persons in Amchit, Tripoli, Jbeil, Beirut and Saida.”

Army chief Joseph Aoun said: “This presidential vacuum period that the country is witnessing amid political tensions between parties might be accompanied by attempts to exploit the situation in order to compromise security.”

The presidential vacuum, following the conclusion of President Michel Aoun’s term at the end of October without any agreement among parties on a replacement, entered its second week on Tuesday and there appeared little hope that a new president would be chosen on Thursday during a fifth parliamentary session called by speaker Nabih Berri.

Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is attending the UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, in Sharm El-Sheikh. On the sidelines of the event he met on Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who emphasized the need as a matter of “priority to carry out the Lebanese presidential elections, in order to achieve the regular functioning of institutions,” according to Mikati’s media office.

Meanwhile, Barbara A. Leaf, the US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, warned that “Lebanon is open to all scenarios, including a complete disintegration of the state. The Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces might lose control and mass immigration might take place.”

She was speaking at an event devoted to US policy in Lebanon, which was hosted by the Wilson Center and moderated by David Hale, a former American ambassador to Lebanon.

“I believe that the diplomats themselves will pack up their belongings and move to Europe,” said Leaf. “It is not the duty of foreign diplomats to go to parliament and put pressure on the Cabinet to elect a president.

“We are putting pressure on political leaders to carry out their work; however, nothing will have the same impact as public pressure and, sooner or later, it will mount again.”