Charbel Urges USJ to Expel 'Any Troublemaker', Says Reports of Bombing at Roumieh 'Inaccurate'

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Wednesday said reports of a plot to carry out a bombing at the Roumieh prison to facilitate the escape of Islamist inmates were “inaccurate.”

“Reports about a blast at the Roumieh prison are inaccurate and those who have such information must pass them on to the judiciary,” Charbel said in an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Wednesday that extremist networks were plotting to attack several Lebanese prisons to facilitate a jail break by Islamist inmates.

According to the newspaper, the Army Command has warned the Internal Security Forces of a mass breakout from several prison facilities in Lebanon.

Commenting on the recent standoff at the Universite Saint-Joseph campus in Beirut, Charbel said the university's administration must not hesitate to “expel any troublemaker to prevent the university from being taken hostage by a group of students.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a verbal dispute between students pushed the university to suspend classes at its Huvelin campus. The incident comes at the heels of a several-hour student standoff at the campus on Monday which prompted the administration to suspend classes and sparked a heated debate between political forces in the country.

Separately, the minister spoke of “imminent positive developments” in the case of the two Syrian bishops who were abducted in Aleppo, Boulos Yazigi and Yohanna Ibrahim.

“We sensed this today in Qatar and we hope our efforts will be crowned with success,” he added.

On the situation in restive Tripoli, the minister said “the security plan has succeeded in Tripoli and the incidents that are happening daily there are of a personal and isolated nature,” adding that “a meeting will be held soon to evaluate the plan.”