LA Imposes Tripoli’s Security Plan, Syria Hands 3 Salafists’ Bodies

Local Editor

The Lebanese Army [LA] started Monday implementing a security plan to restore law and order in Tripoli, which has been rattled by fighting between Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen.

This comes hours after 6 people were killed by the fighting on Sunday alone.
Although rival gunmen fought intermittently during the day, clashes intensified along the night, engulfing all fronts between the neighborhoods of the two regions.
Seventeen people were killed, mostly by sniper fire, and at hundreds were wounded since the clashes erupted last week.

Earlier on Sunday, the Higher Defense Council convened at the Baabda Palace to discuss the latest round of clashes.
In a statement released after the meeting, chaired by President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, the council said it had discussed the security situation in the country in general, and Tripoli and its environs in particular.
"The council was briefed by the LA commander on the measures taken by the Army troops to control the security situation and restore calm to the city and its surroundings," the statement said.
The council, that kept its decisions secret, highlighted that " it issued necessary instructions to the LA and distributed tasks to the ministries and the relevant [security] departments and agencies."

The council's meeting was attended by Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the ministers of defense, interior, finance, economy and the acting foreign minister, in addition to senior LA and security officials.
For his part, Mikati called on all the parties in Tripoli to cooperate with the LA and Internal Security Forces in order to halt the bloodshed and protect the city against strife.
"My serious work is continuing toward ensuring stability in Tripoli and all of Lebanon," Mikati said on Twitter. He added that measures would be taken in the next few hours to consolidate security in Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Syria Sunday handed over the bodies of three Lebanese Salafist fighters who were killed in an ambush by Syrian troops after the infiltrated Syria to join its rebels.

The men whose bodies were repatriated were initially identified as Malek Ziyad Hajj-Dib, Khodr Mustafa Alameddine and Abdel-Hamid Ali al-Agha, but Hajj-Dib's body turned out to be that of Mohammad al-Mir.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org