Bombs, shootings expose Lebanon security weakness
Source: Reuters
By Tom Perry BEIRUT, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Bombs on buses and shootings in broad daylight -- recent bloodshed in Lebanon has exposed the weakness of its security forces and their limited ability to protect civilians. "We have become like Iraq and we are going to become more like Iraq," said Sherbel Jaber, a 20-year-old cafe worker, watching news reports about the bombs which killed at least three people on two buses on Tuesday. "There's no security. It's clear from what is happening," said Jaber's colleague, Maan al-Khatib, recalling the November assassination of government minister Pierre Gemayel. "In broad daylight, gunmen killed him in the middle of the city." Gemayel's killers made no attempt to hide their faces. "It's one of the most blatant assassinations I remember," said Timur Goksel, a former advisor to U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon who dealt extensively with its security forces. "Normally they should have these people within a day, but now you don't even hear about it. "There is a massive security vacuum." Four journalists and politicians have been killed since the Feb. 14, 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Anti-Syrian leaders blame Damascus for the killings, including the slaying of Gemayel. Syria denies involvement. Syria kept thousands of troops in the country until 2005 when the Hariri killing triggered international pressure which forced their withdrawal. Where Syria had gathered extensive intelligence, Lebanese security forces had fallen short, Goksel said. "The security services have been divided into four big chunks. There is a tremendous lack of coordination...," he said. "The biggest problem is lack of intelligence." The weakness of state security agencies is not new to Lebanon where government dissolved in the 1975-1990 civil war. "We are used to living in a state that has no upper hand on the security level. Since the mid-70s, the question of security was a private matter," columnist Sateh Nour Eddin said. Lebanon is currently suffering its worst political crisis since that conflict. The tensions spilled into street violence last month and nine people were killed, all shot dead. The army has tried to keep the peace but some leaders have predicted it would disintegrate if there were widespread clashes. With weak security forces, political tension and plentiful supplies of weapons, some Lebanese fear the worst. "When you leave your home in the morning, you don't know if you're going to come back alive," shop worker Mohammed Shaair said.
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