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BEIRUT: Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr filed charges Monday against two groups for trying to stop security authorities from preventing illegal construction in the south.
The first group comprises five detainees that resisted an Internal Security Forces patrol which was cracking down on illegal construction near the Palestinian refugee camp of Al-Buss in Tyre and damaged a military vehicle.
One individual of the other 40-member group was detained while search and investigation warrants were issued against the rest for resisting and throwing stones at an ISF patrol and preventing it from removing violations in the southern village of Zifta. The detainees are being investigated by the relevant judiciary.
South Lebanon and neighborhoods in the Beirut southern suburbs have seen a wave of illegal construction in recent weeks. Head of south Lebanon ISF Brigadier Monzer Ayyoubi told The Daily Star Sunday that the wave had subsided “to a certain extent” following a meeting by the union of municipalities of Tyre to address the problem Saturday.
Meanwhile, illegal construction in the southern district of Zahrani is being accompanied by the digging of artesian wells in private property despite the lack of licenses.
Many southerners brought excavators to their private properties and started digging artesian wells without getting licenses from concerned authorities. Many such practices were carried out in plots of land surrounded by leafy trees to prevent being discovered.
Separately, Caretaker Energy and Water resources Minister Jibran Bassil announced during a news conference he held at the ministry Monday that measures were taken to control the issuing of licenses for digging artesian wells in Lebanon, as he detailed conditions required for granting such licenses.
These are the absence of an alternative source for water, providing a justification for the need for water, like using it in agricultural, industrial or any other sector of public interest along with sending a license request with all the required documents via Liban Post to the ministry.
Bassil said that any ministry employee not ensuring that these conditions were met, would be held accountable. He said that the license had a one-year nonrenewable term. Bassil said that 3,425 licenses for digging artesian wells were granted between 2007 and 2009.
Bassil said that the mechanism announced would be implemented as of Monday.
“But until we’redone with the 1,100 [license] requests already forwarded to the ministry … not a single request to dig a well will be accepted,” he said. – The Daily Star, with additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari
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