In a statement released by the office of caretaker Minister of Interior Bassam Mawlawi on Sunday, it was announced that “the units of the Internal Security Forces have started implementing a security plan in Tripoli since yesterday.”
The statement said, “The Regional Gendarmerie Unit in the North began patrolling the streets of Tripoli, setting up mobile checkpoints and temporary roadblocks, especially inside markets and commercial areas.”
“The motorized patrols were backed by essential forces to suppress crimes and incidents of shooting, arrest those involved and hand them over to the concerned unit for legal action,” the statement said, adding that the measures are being executed in cooperation and coordination with the army and the General Directorate of State Security.
Mawlawi is overseeing the plan’s implementation by coordinating with the security commanders, officers and units in charge on the ground.
Rampant insecurity and a surge in criminality in the impoverished northern city in recent months caused the tightening of security measures ahead of Easter celebrations and upcoming Eid el Fitr which marks the end of the fasting holy month of Ramadan.
