2023-07-20 12:17:06
The Lebanese security services are coping with the financial crisis thanks to foreign aid
It is no longer a passing event that a former brigadier general in the Lebanese army asks over the phone on a local TV to work as a building janitor or a cleaning worker in a municipality, following his salary, which he said amounted to 220 US dollars, was no longer sufficient to secure the basic necessities of life for him and his family.
The retired brigadier general, who used to earn regarding 6 million Lebanese pounds per month, which is equivalent to 4 thousand US dollars, and used to live in luxury, following the financial collapse that Lebanon has been witnessing since 2019, is in need and is forced to return to work in his advanced years, especially since a large part of his The deans who ended their military service had their savings seized in the banks, as did all Lebanese depositors, and they now received monthly sums from them by drop.
And if some of them work, for example, with university education and others in commerce, some of them resort to agriculture and small projects. As for those who are older, they find it difficult to return to the labor market.
Retired Brigadier General George Nader told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Many difficulties confront us as retired soldiers. There are officers working in companies specialized in protection and security, some of them in swimming pools and others in other professions. I cultivate the land around my house and sell thyme and grapes, and my children help me with the expenses.” !”
A member of the army training his weapon (Directorate of Orientation)
Nominal salaries!
The condition of the retired brigadiers remains much better than the conditions of the lower ranks, whether those who are still in the service or those who have been retired. The disappearance of the value of salaries sums up the size of the challenges that these people suffer under. Despite the increases recently approved by the government, which amounted to regarding 3 additional salaries, pensions remained less than a quarter of what they were before the financial crisis that began in 2019.
The following are the salaries of military personnel in dollars before and following the crisis:
Soldier: 800 – 100
Dean: 4800 – 330
Brigade: 6000 – 420
Army Commander: 6200 – 530
In addition to these salaries, the military has been receiving international financial assistance, amounting to $100 per month. The $100 is an oxygen dose for the army personnel who are eagerly awaiting its capture to meet some of their families’ needs.
The Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, is striving with countries friendly to Lebanon, so that this amount is always available to his soldiers to support their steadfastness, knowing that salaries, no matter how high they are in Lebanese pounds, remain symbolic, following the exchange rate of the dollar rose from 1,500 pounds to one dollar before 2019 to regarding 93,000 to the dollar now.
The army commander does not care regarding all the criticisms he receives, most of which are regarding the background of the “presidential elections” in terms of accepting foreign financial aid and disposing of it without referring to the ministers of defense or the government, to the extent that some of General Aoun’s critics consider that he has turned the army into a “non-governmental organization funded by the outside.”
The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Representative Gebran Bassil, is considered the most prominent opponent and critic of Aoun. Bassil’s statements were met with dissatisfaction with the elements and officers of the army, one of whom told Asharq Al-Awsat: “Instead of squeezing the hand of the leader who keeps the institution steadfast through his relations with countries that provide us with oxygen, they confront him and fight him, knowing that they fully know that these countries do not trust state institutions and those in charge of them.” Those who stole people’s money with their policies, so the money is transferred directly to the army because it trusts the leader.
exceptional measures
Sources accompanying what General Aoun is doing indicate that “the army is the only body among the security services that provides medical care for its members and their families thanks to American aid and some aid from other countries, as well as sums provided by Lebanese to support the institution, so that they are not forced to pay any amount before entering any hospital.” ».
And the sources stated in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that “despite the passage of more than 3 and a half years since the financial crisis and all the improvements that affected salaries and aid, it cannot be said that the military has adapted to the current reality, although we are confident that despite the difficult situation, the institution will remain A list of the confidence of the personnel and officers that the commander performs his duties and an increase to improve their conditions.
And she adds: «Every period, the military gets free food rations, and there are items that are sold to them at a subsidized price. In addition, the number of service days has been reduced, and personnel service centers have been identified according to their proximity to their homes. Without forgetting the transportation plan approved following purchasing buses to put them at the disposal of the military in moving parts. Some units also cultivate and benefit from the crop, and others operate in a number of industries, and this is what turns our army into a productive army. Without forgetting to convert the majority of centers to solar energy.
turning a blind eye
Muhammad Shams al-Din, a researcher at the Information International, told Asharq Al-Awsat that, “despite the increase in salaries and the granting of transportation allowances and monthly aid in dollars, the pensions of the military and the rest of the elements of the security services do not exceed a quarter of what they were, which prompted many to leave these wires or to work following Working hours and on holidays in restaurants, clearing transactions, taxi drivers, and in many other professions,” pointing out that “the leadership of the military institution knows this and turns a blind eye to keep the military in the wire,” with the knowledge of the leaders of their institutions and the adoption of a policy of turning a blind eye.
and works n. H (33 years old), an assistant in the Lebanese army, has been working in a famous restaurant in Beirut in the evening shift for more than two and a half years, following his salary did not exceed 7 and a half million pounds, which is equivalent to 80 US dollars. He earns regarding $10 per day as a waiter in the restaurant. He tells Asharq Al-Awsat: “If I had relied exclusively on my salary in the army, I would have died of hunger. I am exhausted physically and psychologically, but I know that I have no other choice to continue and provide for the needs of my family.”
Security Forces: The situation is more difficult!
For his part, F. did not lose. A. (28 years), a member of the special units of the Internal Security Forces, hoping that his request for his release would be accepted. Despite the many efforts he made, the leadership of the Internal Security Forces insisted on rejecting his request and many other requests, out of concern for the institution and its continuity. The young man in his twenties told Asharq Al-Awsat: “A while ago I got to know a European girl whom I wanted to marry and leave to live with her in Europe, because I know that we have no future here today with this salary that we receive, which is not enough for me as a single young man. How is it if you want to start a family!
This young man works as a sports coach on holidays, a profession that many security personnel have resorted to, in addition to the fact that many of them, and some of them are officers, work at night in parking cars in front of restaurants, as well as in banking.
It is no secret that the conditions of the current members as well as the retired members of the Internal Security Forces and other security agencies are more difficult than the conditions of the military, given that they and their families are still admitted to hospitals for free, unlike the rest of the security personnel, for whom the institution no longer covers only 5% of the hospital bill.
First qualified, retired from the Internal Security Forces, George Hajj Musa, says: “When we were in the service, everyone envied us, given that we were considered guarantors of our followinglife, that is, we had respectable compensation and free hospitalization… so that it became clear that the officials (they asked us for our followinglife). They stole our money and bankrupted the country.” Hajj Musa added, in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat: “They turned our lives upside down. Whoever was in the wire had a salary of two thousand US dollars, today it is now $70.”
And he points out, “The elements, such as retirees, whose salaries are impossible to cover the exorbitant hospital bills, either resort to politicians to help them, or rely on expatriates from their relatives, while the rest stay in their homes and bite on the wound.” He added: “For example, I need surgery, but I postpone it because the first is for me.” Securing the costs of my son’s education… We live in humiliation, as they have deprived us of everything, even the limited quantities of free petrol, knowing that it is our right by law.”
Like the army, the rest of the security apparatus receives foreign aid, but not to the same extent, which keeps it existing and continuous. While the army command is able, through the aid it receives, to cover the medical care of the current and retired military personnel, the aid that reaches the rest of the apparatus is not sufficient for this. Like the military, members of the Internal Security Forces receive $100 a month in addition to their salaries, within the framework of US assistance to the security services.
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