BEIRUT: Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk Friday warned those behind the string of recent attacks against the Army in the north that they would be hunted down and prosecuted.
“Neither your turbans nor your beards will protect you, criminals,” Machnouk said, hours after gunmen shot dead Lebanese soldier Jamal al-Hashem and wounded several others in the northern Akkar discrict.
"We will be on the lookout for you,” he warned.
His comments largely echoed those made by former Prime Minister and head of the Future bloc in Parliament Fouad Siniora earlier Friday.
“We call on the security forces to arrest the culprits and inflict on them a just (severe) punishment,” Siniora said in a statement.
Machnouk, who is also a leading Future Movement figure, said moderation was critical in protecting the state and maintaining security.
“It is true that there is a regional and international umbrella protecting Lebanon, but religious and political moderation remains key in safe-guarding the state and its institutions,” he said.
Speaking at the conference organized by the Kataeb Party to discuss the role of municipalities in maintaining stability and security, Machnouk said that more than a third of the people living in Lebanon are Syrian refugees.
Machnouk urged a rejection to calls for self armament over fears that extremists are coming into the country from Syria.
“History has taught us that weakening the security institutions and creating alternative ones causes tensions and eliminates the balance and cohesion among the people of one society,” he said.
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