Charbel Says Unprecedented Measures to Protect Pope
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Thursday that Lebanese Armed Forces will coordinate through a special operations room in an unprecedented way to protect Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Lebanon next week.
In remarks to An Nahar daily, Charbel said: “All security agencies led by the army and the presidential guards have taken all precautionary measures and put coordinated plans to protect the convoy of the pope.”
“Each agency has a specific role to play” during Benedict’s visit on Sept. 14-16, he said.
“The operations room includes all the security apparatuses that come under the command of the presidential guards brigade which has been tasked with protecting the pope,” Charbel told An Nahar.
Asked whether he fears that a fifth column would seek to stir tension during Benedict’s visit to give a bad image of Lebanon, the minister said: “Of course not. That would never happen.”
“We have taken all the precautions and studied the security situation well,” he said, adding “I assure and stress that the pope’s security in Lebanon is preserved.”
Such security measures have not been previously adopted during any visit of a head of state to Lebanon, Charbel told his interviewer.
His remarks to An Nahar came a day after the visit's coordinator Father Abdo Abou Kasm confirmed “all Lebanese security organizations are on a state of alert poised to protect” Benedict.
"All eventualities have been considered... so that this visit will be crowned with success," he said.
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