Lebanon’s ISF chief to hand over responsibilities to his deputy

The General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces called for holding a ceremony on Saturday at 4 PM in Ashrafieh whereby Major General Ashraf Rifi will hand over his ISF responsibilities to his deputy, Brigadier General Roger Salem, LBC reported on Friday

One of the main reasons that Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned Last Friday was because the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance which dominated the cabinet refused to extend Rifi’s term which officially ends on April 1, based on current retirement age.

A delegation of March 14 MPs handed Lebanon Speaker Nabih Berri a petition calling on him to convene the parliament before the end of the March in order to pass a draft law to raise the retirement age of soon-to-retire security officials, Tripoli MP Samir Jisr said after the meeting on Thursday.

The petition was signed by 69 out of 128 parliament members . All the centrists including Caretaker PM Nagib Mikati, caretaker Ministers Mohammad Safadi and Ahmad Karami and all MPs from Walid Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc signed the petition.