Lebanese Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi announced Wednesday that funds have been secured to cover the health care needs of members, both active and retired, of the Internal Security Forces, the state-run National News Agency reported. Retired ISF members held a sit-in earlier today outside the Interior Ministry’s headquarters in Hamra to demand better living conditions amid Lebanon’s ongoing, unprecedented economic crisis.
Here’s what we know:
• “Additional funds have been secured for the budget devoted to the health care of ISF agents and retired ones,” Mawlawi was quoted by the NNA as saying. Mawlawi also said that “the cabinet will request that credits from the reserves of the 2020 budget be transferred to the ISF budget for this purpose.”
• During their sit-in, retired police officers warned that they would escalate their movements after the month of Ramadan if their demands are not met.
• Retired police officers have organized several demonstrations over the past two years in response to the deterioration of their living conditions and the devaluation of their salaries due to the unprecedented economic crisis Lebanon is facing. More than three-quarters of the population now live below the poverty line while officials have still not yet implemented structural reforms demanded by the International Monetary Fund and the international community before any financial rescue package can be provided.