Lebanon Boosts Security Over “Terrorist Attacks” Threat

Text of report in English by Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star website on 31 May

[Report by Nur Samahah: "ISF beefs up patrols across country, especially Beirut"]

BEIRUT: Security forces throughout the country have been put on high alert after the Internal Security Forces (ISF) received reports of potential terrorist attacks. “We have increased our security in Beirut by 100 per cent,” Major General Ashraf Rifi, head of the ISF, told The Daily Star on Wednesday [31 May]. “We have taken every necessary security measure, and so far these measures have been successful.”

The ISF has increased the number of checkpoints -permanent and temporary -as well as the number of patrols.

“We are conducting patrols in both uniform and civilian clothing around Beirut and other areas,” he said.

Extra security measures have been introduced specifically for Rafiq al-Hariri International Airport, said an airport security official who requested anonymity. “We are doing our best to ensure every level of success,” the source said. A significantly higher number of checkpoints and patrols have cropped up on the routes surrounding the airport.

Terrorist threats to the airport have been reported, as well as a death threat against an ambassador from one of the Gulf countries. Sources said the security apparatus has been on high alert since the weekend, following anonymous threats that the airport was a potential target of attacks.

During the past two weeks, Lebanon has witnessed a spate of bombings and explosions, totalling five blasts in nine days. The first was a car bomb on late on May 20 in Ashrafieh next to the ABC mall, while other attacks targeted Verdun, Aley and Barbir. The last incident was a hand-grenade explosion Monday evening in Zahle. While only one person has died in the blasts, dozens have been wounded and stores, businesses and residential homes have suffered damages worth tens of thousands of dollars.

“While we have put security all over Lebanon, we have increased it specifically in Beirut because it is the capital and a very sensitive target,” Rifi said. “Our security measures here [in Beirut] are extremely tough.”

According to a report in the daily Al-Akhbar, two non-Lebanese nationals were arrested on Monday evening near the house of an ambassador from the Gulf. They were found with a high-tech camera and confessed to be working for a third party, the report said.

Four people have been killed in the past two days for failing to stop at new checkpoints in Beirut. Three men were killed on the airport road when a taxi sped away from a checkpoint near the airport on Monday. A young woman was killed when her husband failed to stop at a Shiyyah checkpoint on Tuesday.

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