The Supreme Defense Council convened today at Baabda Palace, in a session chaired by President Michel Aoun, and decided to submit a termination to the Cabinet to extend public mobilization until 24/5/2020 implicitly, and to request military and security apparatuses to strictly suppress all violations.
President Michel Aoun stressed the need to give importance to the high costs of commodities and materials and to take controlling measures and protect the consumer, while Prime Minister, Hassan Diab clarified that the issue of high prices is under follow-up by himself in coordination with relevant supervisory agencies.

The meeting was attended by Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, Deputy Prime Minister and National Defense Minister, Zeina Akar, Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Nassif Hitti, Finance Minister, Ghazy Wazni, Interior and Municipalities Minister, Mohammed Fahmy, Economy and Trade Minister, Raoul Nehme, Public Health Minister, Hamad Hassan, Public Works and Transport Minister, Michel Najjar, and Justice Minister, Mary Claude Najem.

In addition, Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, ISF Director General, Major General Imad Othman, Director General of State Security, Major General Tony Saliba, Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council, Major General Mahmoud Al-Asmar, Attorney General of Discrimination, Judge Ghassan Oueidat, Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Judge Peter Germanos, Director of Intelligence, Brigadier General Antoine Mansour, Director of Information at the General Directorate of Public Security, Brigadier General Manh Sawaya, Head of ISF Information Branch, Brigadier Khaled Hammoud, Assistant Director General of State Security, Brigadier Samir Sannan, Director General of the Presidency, Dr. Antoine Choucair, and the President’s Security and Military Advisor, Brigadier General Paul Matar.

After the meeting, Major General Al-Asmar, read the following statement:
“At the invitation of his Excellency, General Michel Aoun, the Supreme Defense Council convened today, Tuesday 5th of May 2020, at 10:00am, at the Presidential Palace, to follow-up latest developments and procedures to limit Corona virus spread. The meeting was attended by the Prime Minister and Ministers of: Finance, National Defense, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Municipalities, Economy and Trade, Justice, Public Works and Transportation, and Public Health.

Also attending were: Army Commander, Attorney General of Discrimination, Presidency Director General, Director General of Public Security, Director General of Internal Security Forces, Director General of State Security, Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council, Security and Military Advisor to His Excellency the President, Government Commissioner to the Military Court, Director of Army Intelligence, Director of Information in Public Security, Head of ISF Information Branch, and Assistant Director General of State Security.
His Excellency, the President of the Republic, began the meeting with a brief presentation on procedures and measures taken since public mobilization announcement on the 27th of April, 2020, in the framework of Corona Virus prevention. The President stressed the need to give attention to the high costs of all goods and materials, take control measures and protect consumers with regard to considering the types of commodities, their sources and profit margins.

Then, the Prime Minister presented the second stage of measures and procedures taken and implemented by the Cabinet. The Prime Minister indicated that the general evaluation is good, but citizens did not abide by the gradually reduced restrictions and measures, and this may reflect negatively on the spread of the pandemic and there is fear of a second wave, which may be much more difficult than the first one, therefore the President suggested that public mobilization should be extended for an additional two weeks. The Prime Minister also pointed out that the issue of high prices is under his personal follow-up in coordination with relevant supervisory agencies.

The Prime Minister then briefed the attendees on the recommendation issued by the committee concerned with following up on the procedures to prevent corona virus, which stipulated a proposal to extend mobilization declaration for a two-week period, which is until 24-5-2020, provided that economic activities could gradually resume work within their scope and according to stages of specific time and based on certain conditions.

Afterwards, the Health Minister briefed attendees on the field results of the survey which was launched at the national level, which turned out to be relatively good. After the Director General of Public Security presented the issue of the draft of return of Lebanese abroad it was emphasized that the return process should be limited to the criterion of priority exclusively for the Lebanese. And in the context of high and increased prices of goods and materials, the Economy and Trade Minister indicated that attention must be paid to the need to find a balance between consumer and merchant, in light of the financial and economic crisis, while working to find solutions to reduce the increase in prices of basic materials.

After deliberation and listening to competent ministers and also head of security apparatuses regarding the security, economic and living situation since public mobilization announcement on the 27th of April 2020, until today, it was decided to control the security conditions and take necessary procedures and measures against violators and aggressors of public and private properties.

In the context of pursuing confronting this danger with public mobilization, which is provided for in Article 2 of Legislative Decree No. 102/1983 (National Defense) with the plans and also specific provisions that this article tackles, in addition to the measures and procedures taken by the Cabinet in its previous meetings, the Supreme Defense Council decided to submit a termination to the Cabinet which includes:

1-    Re-extension of public mobilization, which was announced by Decree No. 6296/2020, starting from 11/5/2020 till 24/5/2020 inclusive.

2-    Emphasizing the activation and implementation of measures and procedures imposed by Decree No. 6198/2020 and Decree No. 6209/2020, Decree no. 6251/2020 and Decree No. 6296/2020 and Resolution No. 49/2020 dated 21/3/2020 issued by the Prime Minister (Instructions Implementing Decree 6198) and relevant decisions issued by the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, during the period of extending public mobilization mentioned above.

3-    Maintaining economic activities that were allowed to gradually re-work within its scope and according to the time stages referred to in Article 2 of Decree No. 6251/2020 and within specific conditions based on the following criteria: mixing intensity, amount of mixing, possibility of adjustment, level of priority and potential risks.

4-    Asking military and security apparatuses to strictly oppress violations, which leads to the halt in spread of Corona virus.

Source: NNA