Gemayel slams Interior Minister Charbel

Lebanese Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel sharply criticised Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Saturday for denying that an assassination attempt against his son MP Sami Gemayel had been thwarted. In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station, Gemayel said: “I was shocked when I heard the remarks of the interior minister. He almost made the official information available by the security forces in his ministry look absurd.” “The information is linked to an immediate threat of murder and is linked to the life of a citizen no matter who he is,” he added. Gemayel’s commentss came a day after Charbel played down the alleged assassination attempt, telling reporters that Sami Gemayel was only warned that “something could happen.” “It is our duty to warn political personalities and leaderships to take precautions,” he said. The news about the alleged murder attempt came after Amine and Sami Gemayel announced that Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan warned the lawmaker not to go to a dinner that he had been planning to attend. Gemayel, however, thanked the security agencies for their “official and humanitarian duties” and for seeking to “limit bloodshed and saving the country from a disaster whose consequences are unknown.” “It seems that the interior minister forgot that I lost my eldest son Pierre in similar circumstances,” he said. “Would he have preferred for security agencies to remain blind and mute?” Gemayel wondered. In response to the Kataeb leader’s criticisms, Charbel expressed his regret for being misunderstood, stating that he “met with leaders of Lebanese security bodies and discussed monitoring the information related to assassination attempts in Lebanon”. “Such information needs to be controlled, but of course not disregarded,” Charbel stressed. He further explained that “when information about an assassination attempt targeting a [Lebanese] figure becomes available, [security authorities] inform the concerned person.” “The security forces analyse all the available information and does not neglect any security data,” Charbel added. Charbel also indicated that Lebanon’s security was linked with Syria's, adding that any destabilisation in Syria could affect the internal situation in Lebanon. Charbel stated that the cabinet was scheduled to convene within two weeks at the most, before Prime Minister Mikati heads to Paris. Meanwhile, an informed security source told ‘Arabstoday’ that the Charbel, on the sidelines of the meeting held to address a building collapse in Ashrafiya, highlighted the importance of consultation and coordination between him and the leaders of security heads, particularly concerning the safety of political figures and party leaderships. “Charbel met with the general Director of Internal Security Forces, General Ashraf Riefy, and Director of Public Security, General Abbas Ibrahim, and called on them to put an end to the information leaks witnessed in the past few days, which caused panic among the people, especially among those who are at risk of aggression,” the source added. According to the source, Charbel called on political leaders and party members to leave the risk estimation to security leaderships and experts, who have supposedly proven capable of foiling several criminal plots before their occurrence.