Assassination tactics against Lebanese politicians are expected to return in Lebanon, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Monday, citing highly anticipated reports.
"All the reports that were obtained indicate a high probability that [Lebanon] will enter the assassinations’ stage," Machnouk told pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.
He was responding to a question about whether escalation of violence was likely to return to Lebanon through political assassinations.
“Things are not clear,” Machnouk said, adding that there was “conflicting information” about who is on the list of assassinations.
The interior minister said that while Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen and Syria each has particular methods of escalation of violence, Lebanon cannot afford military operations that can possibly lead to an Israeli war on the border.
Furthermore, Machnouk pointed to a “regional-international strategic decision to keep the situation in Lebanon as is because Lebanon is the lung through which Syria breathes. There is the airport and the port, hospitals and funds transfer.”
“So if there need be an escalation in Lebanon ... each country has its own way of escalation – Bahrain has its own escalation, as well as Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.”
