Members of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces. (Credit: Hassan Ammar/AFP)
BEIRUT — A police ID card apparently issued by the municipality of Laqlouq in northeast Lebanon to a man of Syrian origin is fake, Laqlouq municipality head Riad Merhi confirmed to L'Orient Today on Sunday.
A picture of the police ID card made the rounds of social media in recent days, prompting the office of caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi to issue a statement instructing "the security services affiliated with the ministry to immediately investigate the validity of the aforementioned municipality issuing such a card and the extent to which the municipality applies the laws, as well as the identity papers belonging to the Syrian person."
However, Laqlouq's municipality head told L'Orient Today that the card is fake, adding that Laqlouq "does not even have a police department" and that the area usually relies on forces from nearby police offices or backups in case of urgent situations.
Merhi added that tasking "foreigners" with police positions is against the law in Lebanon.
On Wednesday, cabinet ministers tasked various ministries with implementing restrictions on Syrian refugees in Lebanon amid rising anti-Syrian sentiment and gave a one-week deadline for the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, to provide data on displaced Syrians.
Ministers called on security forces to prevent irregular land border crossings into Lebanon, adding that “refugee status” will be revoked for those Syrians leaving Lebanese territory. The ministers also tasked the Interior Ministry and Social Affairs Ministry with registering the births of Syrians in Lebanon in coordination with UNHCR. The Labor Ministry was tasked with "tightening labor control within the permitted sectors" for Syrians in Lebanon. Syrians are legally only allowed to work in agriculture and several other labor-intensive fields in Lebanon.
Caretaker Justice Minister Henri Khoury was asked to negotiate the “immediate” deportation of Syrian detainees.
Dozens of displaced Syrian nationals have been deported since the start of April amid aggressive policing of the refugee community in Lebanon, security officials and a humanitarian source told the AFP news agency last week.