The Lebanese Cabinet approves security and military appointments

The Lebanese Council of Ministers approved today, Thursday, in a session at Baabda Republican Palace, headed by President Joseph Aoun, security and military appointments. This comes within the framework of the completion of the contracts contract and the restoration of full powers to it in order to be able to keep pace with the launch of the New Testament, its priorities in terms of implementing Resolution 1701 and the ceasefire arrangements with Israel, and conducting political, financial and judicial reforms in an internationally conditional path for reconstruction and the advancement of the country economically.

The Lebanese Cabinet appointed Brigadier General Rudolph Heikal as the commander of the army with his promotion to the rank of Imad, Brigadier Raed Abdullah as General Director of the Internal Security Forces with his promotion to the rank of Major General, and Brigadier Hassan Shuqair as General Manager of Public Security with his promotion to the rank of brigade. Brigadier Ramzi Al -Rami was also appointed to the Agency at the absence of Al -Aseel in the General Directorate of Public Security, Brigadier Edgar Londes as General Director of the State Security Agency with his promotion to the rank of brigade, and Brigadier Murshid Al -Hajj Suleiman as Deputy Director General of the State Security Service.

“In addition to these nominal appointments, the Council of Ministers will hold an extraordinary special session next Monday to study the mechanism of administrative appointments and reconsider the structure of the public sector,” said the Minister of Information, Paul Morcos.

Next Monday, the Council of Ministers will hold an extraordinary special session to study the mechanism of administrative appointments and reconsider the structure of the public sector

Morcos also announced that “the request of the Ministry of Defense was approved to appoint 100 officers between the military and complete the implementation of 4,500 soldiers in 3 stages during the year 2025 in favor of the military units deployed in the south, as part of the requirements of 1701, and this is in addition to the 1500 soldiers who had previously volunteered.”

In response to the journalists ’questions, about what the Israeli media reported on a link to the issue of returning the Lebanese prisoners in Israel with negotiations that will happen on normalization, Merusal said,“ The issue of negotiations to liberate the Lebanese prisoners occurred indirectly, and there is no trend for the government to tell about normalization with Israel and did not discuss the issue during the government session. ”

Regarding the statement of Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Mitri that there is no deadline for delivering Hezbollah’s weapon and whether there is fear that this will lead to confidence in front of the international community, and that day was raised inside the session, Meroz replied, “There is no final fear and the government’s atmosphere is positive and there is solidarity between the ministers and positive discussions, even if they are excessive, and there is a keenness to implement the ministerial statement at the same time, noting that there was accuracy, correctness and goal.”

Aoun: The release of the prisoners was caused by indirect negotiations

At the beginning of the session, President Joseph Aoun said, “We have signed in the last session the budget of the year 2025, and I hope that the Minister of Finance will monitor the expenses with the use of Article 118 of the Public Accounting Law, and that he submit a report to the government on the status of expenses every 3 months.” Aoun then briefed the government on the atmosphere of his meeting with the delegation of the International Monetary Fund, noting that “a committee headed by the Minister of Finance, the membership of the Minister of Economy and the Acting Bank of Lebanon, and two advisers, in addition to the adviser to Prime Minister Lamia Moubaid, were formed to follow up the points presented by the Fund.”

Aoun added, “During the meeting, the Fund delegation focused on the importance and necessity of reaching a program with the fund before the summer, after the previous unpopular experiences, according to their expression, in cooperation with all the authorities and the concerned authorities in Lebanon,” noting that “the basis is to restore confidence in Lebanon, internally and externally, which requires reforming the economic, banking, financial, and other conditions.”

The Fund delegation stressed the necessity of appointing the governor of the Bank of Lebanon, and that the Ministry of Finance be a unified center for all the departments of the ministry, Data Center, and the fund also stressed the approval of two laws, the first is the banking confidentiality law that needs additional amendments after the amendments to it recently, and the second is the law of restructuring banking.

On the recent events in Syria, Aoun pointed out that “the security services and the ministries of the interior and defense are following developments, to stay on the entire readiness.” Aoun added, “Yesterday, four Lebanese prisoners were launched that Israel had been detained during the recent war, and today the fifth prisoner was launched, and this was done as a result of indirect negotiations,” Aoun added.

For his part, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that “the delegation of the IMF assured that Lebanon’s goal is to reach a program with the fund as soon as possible and that, contrary to what happened in the past, there is a unified team with a unified vision that has the task of negotiating with the fund.”

On the second level, the Council of Ministers studied its agenda and approved the items contained in it, and the most prominent of which is, Marcus says, “Reducing the fees on spiritual drinks, hotels, cabarets, restaurants, cafes and places of selling products related to tobacco and confirmation, because if these fees are found, they will have economic and social repercussions, and in order to remedy the draft amendment prepared by the Ministry of Finance in light of a health and health study as well and approved with the preservation of a minister Economy of the technical aspects of fees.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Fayez Rasamani, issued several decisions to amend some assignments in the General Directorate of Civil Aviation that come in the context of the aspirations and positive expectations for the airport administration and operate it in the best way until the relevant procedures are completed to compose the Board of Directors of the General Authority of Civil Aviation. “

According to the decisions, Eng. Amin Jaber was assigned to the tasks of the Director General of Civil Aviation, Kamal Nasser Al -Din with the tasks of the head of the airport, the engineer Mohamed Saad with the tasks of the head of the Services Maintenance Authority, and the engineer Maher Shehab with the tasks of the head of the Guidance Department. And Eng. Fadi Al -Hassan remains among his duties as a contractor with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.