BEIRUT: Lebanon is prepared to face security challenges as a result of the Syria and Iraq conflicts, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said in remarks published Wednesday.
“Information made available to us indicate that we are ahead of a difficult security year in Syria and Iraq, which would have negative consenquences on Lebanon and is likely to make [Lebanon] more susceptible to shakeups and challenges,” Machnouk told the local newspaper As-Safir.
Nevertheless, Machnouk stressed that Lebanon “stands ready to face all possibilities.”
He said Lebanese security agencies were mobilized for battle and multiple scenarios had been drawn up to curb unrest.
“The worst is yet to come.” Machnouk warned. “That’s no surprise, and I’m responsible for my words.”
“Fires are breaking out everywhere now,” he said, while pointing to “groups in Lebanon that consider what is happening in Syria as an existential issue for them and what is happening in Iraq as a matter of life or death.”
For that reason, he said, it was impossible to hold parliamentary elections in the presence of takfiri and terrorist groups and car bombs.
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