Abbas Ibrahim Says Lebanese-Syrian Border Controlled, Security Situation Improved
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim revealed on Saturday that closing the illegal crossings between Lebanon and Syria and the control imposed in the area had a positive impact on the local security situation.
Media reports quoted him as saying that “90 percent of the illegal crossings were closed.”
Ibrahim lauded security forces that exerted efforts to seize explosive-rigged vehicles, considering the security situation as the concern of all.
However, he said that the conflict in neighboring country Syria had a strong impact on the situation in Lebanon.
“Our border was open from all sides,” Ibrahim added.
Lebanon and Syria share a 330-kilometer border but have yet to agree on official demarcation.
Syrian regime troops backed by fighters from Hizbullah and pro-regime militiamen seized full control of several town along the border with Lebanon.
Hizbullah argues that its military intervention in Syria is necessary to fend off the threat of Qaida-linked groups seeking to infiltrate Lebanon and to prevent the fall of Syria in the hands of “Israel and the U.S.”
The party's rivals in Lebanon have strongly rejected the presence of its fighters in Syria, saying it contradicts with the Baabda Declaration, which Hizbullah had endorsed and which calls for neutralizing Lebanon from regional conflicts.
Ibrahim said on Saturday that the Lebanese state is currently establishing a security plan to be implemented in the Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon, similar to the plan enforced in the northern city of Tripoli and the Bekaa valley.
Palestinians living in Arab countries — including the 450,000 in Lebanon — are descendants of the hundreds of thousands who fled or were driven from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. They remain in Lebanon's 12 refugee camps because Israel and the Palestinians have never reached a deal that would enable them to return to their homes that are now in Israel.
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