The Lebanese cabinet issued a decision to recruit 12 thousand members to the Internal Security Forces, and to raise the number of volunteers to 4000, which will include 500 detectives. 500 volunteers will also be recruited to the State Security institution, with another 500 designated toward the service of the state's General Security. 5000 soldiers will also be recruited to the Lebanese army, the cabinet said following its session on Thursday.
On education, the cabinet tasked the concerned minister Elias Bou Saab with following up on the issue of the correction of state official exams, in a bid to save the upcoming academic year.
Bou Saab was also asked to take the necessary measures and appropriate procedures to grant school certificates to students affected by this year's Union Coordinating Committee crisis.The cabinet also urged Minister Bou Saab to shut down all unlicensed schools before the start of the academic year.
Among the other decisions issued during the session, the cabinet renewed the licenses of several media outlets.
On a more general note, Prime Minister Tammam Salam praised the united stance voiced by the Lebanese factions to support the
Lebanese army, noting that the authorities will never be lenient with whomever violates Lebanon’s sovereignty.
Salam added that the Saudi grant offered for the Lebanese army confirms the keenness of the Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz in supporting Lebanon and its institutions, stressing the need to deal seriously with the humanitarian situation in Arsal.
Earlier, cabinet sources said that Lebanese Armed Forces Chief Jean Kahwagi informed the ministers of the latest developments and the general situation in Arsal, deeming it reassuring.
He noted that armed men withdrew from the town at dawn, while aid convoys began entering.
Kahwagi added that armed militants transported the captive security forces and Lebanese army soldiers outside of the border town on the onset of the clashes.
On a separate note, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq informed cabinet that he drafted a decree to call on the electoral committees to participate in the parliamentary elections, urging expatriates to cast their votes for the first time, mainly in Kuwait and Australia.
Lebanon has been without a president since May 25 when Michel Sleiman's six-year mandate ended amid a failure by lawmakers to elect a successor over disputes on a consensual candidate.
Clashes erupted in Arsal on Saturday afternoon when Syrian gunmen deployed across the region after the Lebanese Armed Forces arrested Syrian national Imad Ahmad Jomaa at a checkpoint.The army said 17 soldiers have been killed, with at least 30 military personal missing and 86 injured in the fighting.
Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Al-Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.
While Lebanon has officially tried to distance itself from Syria's conflict, Hezbollah has openly sent fighters to aid President Bashar al-Assad, against rebels trying to topple him.
The rebels fighting to overthrow Assad are overwhelmingly Sunni and have received support from regional Sunni powers including Saudi Arabia.