An image from the Facebook page of Junud al-Rab.
BEIRUT — Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) on Thursday denied claims made by MP Paula Yacoubian (Forces of Change/Beirut I) that the Christian group Soldiers of God arrived at the residence of a woman after she had called the ISF.
Yacoubian on Wednesday told the Megaphone news outlet that a woman had called "the police station" before the Soldiers of God showed up at her house. The MP did not specify to Megaphone why the woman had contacted the ISF, she only reported that when the woman asked the group how they knew she had called the police, they had explained to the woman that "the police station told them."
In its statement, the ISF said that none of the Achrafieh, Gemmayzeh, Corniche al-Naher or Beirut police stations had received "any call from a woman on that matter." However, the ISF also claimed the woman was reporting a robbery, a detail Yacoubian had not mentioned.
The ISF statement went on to say that the "Internal Security Forces have no relation with the group mentioned by MP Yacoubian," adding that the Soldiers of God "are followed and tracked" by the ISF.
The ISF also said that it "rejects any form of self security" and called on Yacoubian not to "make such a statement before making sure it is true from the officers concerned in the institution [the ISF]."
The Soldiers of God, or Jnoud al-Rab in Arabic, is a Christian group, the members of which are often visibly armed and usually stationed either in front of the Société Générale de Banque au Liban (SGBL) headquarters in Sin al-Fil or outside the Saydeh agency branch in Achrafieh. Their coat of arms is displayed on their social network profiles, their cars and mopeds, and on their black T-shirts: a white and red crossed shield, the wings of Saint Michael and the Bible.
According to reports, the Soldiers of God come from working-class backgrounds and are hardcore Christian believers. According to various people who have been in contact with the group, membership numbers in the hundreds of even thousands.
According to local residents, but also according to several sources within the SGLB who requested anonymity, these men are part of the security group of Antoun Sehnaoui, the owner of the bank, whose photo is regularly published on their social networks. Asma Andraos, who is in charge of Sehnaoui’s media office, denied these claims. Sehnaoui financed Andraos' campaign in the May legislative elections in Beirut I.
On June 24, the Soldiers of God destroyed a billboard of flowers with the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag and the accompanying hashtag #LoveAlwaysBlooms, which had been set up in Sassine Square, Ashrafieh, by Beirut Pride for the Pride month celebrations.
