South Beirut tightens security during Ramadan

Lebanese army and municipal police forces have raised the level of alert and tightened security measures in Bourj al-Barajneh, conducting stricter identification and vehicle checks at the entrances to Beirut’s southern suburb.

The enhanced security measures come at the start of Ramadan and after security forces foiled a number of bombings in recent months, according to Minister of Interior and Municipalities Nohad Machnouk.

In the past three months, security forces were able to uncover and prevent three attacks being plotted by the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), Machnouk said last week.

Tight security measures were introduced after the double suicide bombing in Bourj al-Barajneh last November, and enhanced with the start of Ramadan amid fears of attacks, Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar reported May 31st.

Despite the vigilance of the security forces, who are arresting ISIL and al-Nusra Front (ANF) elements and their affiliates on a daily basis, the terror threats remain, the newspaper quoted security sources as saying.

Checkpoints, surveillance beefed up

"It is not unlikely that ISIL could try to spread fear during this month as part of its defense mechanism, as it is currently doing in Fallujah and al-Raqa," said retired Brig. Gen. Naji Malaeb, a Lebanese military and strategy expert.

"Security agencies must take preventive measures and precautions in the areas surrounding the southern suburb and at its entrances by beefing up checkpoints, closely checking vehicles and the identities of people [entering the area], and conducting patrols," he told Al-Shorfa.

These measures must be enforced along with the efforts to uncover sleeper cells at the Lebanese-Syrian border and in the Lebanese interior, Malaeb said.

"Security measures that a month ago were routine and standard are becoming more stringent," said Ali al-Amin, a political analyst who resides in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"We have seen an upgrade in surveillance methods and equipment and the installation of high-tech surveillance cameras that spot vehicles coming into the area for the first time and record their license plate numbers and the faces of their passengers," he told Al-Shorfa.

These measures are important and necessary, Malaeb said, because no one can predict what might happen in view of the volatile situation in Syria.

Enhanced security during Ramadan

Journalist Mohammed al-Sibai said the security measures in place in the southern suburbs are a result of "co-operation between the Lebanese security services, including the army, internal security forces and local forces".

Their goal is "to enhance security and maintain the safety [of citizens] during the month of Ramadan, given the increase in the number of visitors to the area’s markets, which makes taking added precautions imperative", he said.

Seven months ago, 50 people were killed and 285 wounded in a double suicide bombing in Bourj al-Barajneh carried out by two ISIL suicide bombers, he noted.

In addition to tightened security and police deployment, he said, security forces are conducting undercover surveillance operations at the entrances to refugee camps, as the perpetrators of the last attack used an apartment in Bourj al-Barajneh camp.

These measures will remain in place as long as ISIL and its branches continue to send suicide bombers to Lebanon, he said.

"Security measures will be increased in markets, places of worship, hospitals and sites that host iftar banquets every evening in Ramadan, in anticipation of any emergency due to the ongoing battle with terrorist groups and their affiliates," al-Sibai said.