Ibrahim Sticks to Initiative on Raising Retirement Age of Top Officers
General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has revealed that an initiative to raise the retirement age of senior army officers for three years aimed at ending a growing political crisis has not stopped.
Ibrahim told As Safir daily published on Monday that his contacts with all the Lebanese factions are ongoing.
The head of General Security also stressed that his initiative is well-studied, denying that it would put financial pressure on the treasury by keeping top officers in their posts.
“No one has the right to express his viewpoint on something which he does not know,” said Ibrahim about the critics of his plan.
But An Nahar newspaper said that Ibrahim's proposal would not see light.
Ain el-Tineh sources told the daily that Speaker Nabih Berri does not mind to discuss the amendment of the defense law to raise the retirement age of the top military brass.
But a decree to open an extraordinary parliamentary session still requires the signatures of the two ministers representing the Free Patriotic Movement and the other Christian ministers, said the sources.
The sources also told al-Akhbar newspaper that Ibrahim will not be able to move forward with his initiative and that al-Mustaqbal movement will not accept it, a stance that was made clear by the head of al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora in remarks to As Safir on Monday.
But Free Patriotic movement sources said that Berri needs the initiative to meet his objective of opening an extraordinary legislative session.
Ibrahim made his initiative to resolve the controversy on the appointment of high-ranking military and security officials.
The FPM of Michel Aoun has rejected the extension of the terms of the top military and security brass because the lawmaker wants his son-in-law Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, who is the Commando Regiment chief, to become army chief.
On Saturday, Aoun urged his supporters to get ready for street protests, few days after the cabinet failed to agree on the appointments, prompting Defense Minister Samir Moqbel to extend the terms of the army commander, the chief of staff and the secretary-general of the Higher Defense Council.
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