Cassandra Hamade, "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency

Rammal: the financial situation of military institutions affected negatively on readiness

The basic component of human life has become banned in Lebanon... Or it can be replaced today with "baguette": in fact this is the "sad and funny thing" in a homeland where citizens beg for a bite of bread not only because of the lack of money, but because of the loss of flour. Of course, the state has a role in controlling the "borders", which have become the source of smuggling to the neighbor and not the enemy.

In this context, retired Brigadier General Dr. Mohammed Rammal, via "Akhbar al-Yawm" agency, that smuggling across the border arises when the prices of smuggled materials differ between the two countries and the main reason is the illegal crossings that previously allowed the smuggling of fuel down to the smuggling of bread today. Thus, this requires a plan by the Ministry of economy to control the distribution of flour and the bread industry, as the smuggling phenomenon requires enhanced security measures at the border.

He adds that the Lebanese market is in crisis because of these two points, stressing that this is the responsibility of the Lebanese authorities.

He says that the control of illegal borders is an issue that, these days, is taking another dimension and has not been and will not be fully controlled, as a result of the economic conditions that weaken the security apparatuses in human terms, and the financial conditions of military institutions have negatively affected the readiness of the apparatuses and their ability to carry out tasks fully.

In another context, Rammal points out that the beneficiaries of the security chaos today are both Syrian and Lebanese, after all, the issue is commercial and has nothing to do with the identity of the beneficiary.

He concludes: but there is no doubt that the Syrian displacement is an additional reason to put pressure on local consumption of bread, which leads to an additional shortage of bread and flour materials due to the inability to meet the large number of residents.