After Reports of Passport Forgery by General Security Personnel... Clarification from the Office of Brigadier General Ibrahim

Issued by the media office of Brigadier General Abbas Ibrahim, the following statement:

One media outlet and accounts on social media platforms circulated reports about passport forgery operations carried out by elements in the Lebanese General Directorate of General Security.

We would like to clarify first that, contrary to what these reports mentioned and implied, the aforementioned operations did not occur during the tenure of Brigadier General Abbas Ibrahim, and they were conducted for the benefit of individuals of various nationalities, not for Iranian citizens as was suggested. Noting that these operations were detected and handled by the competent judiciary at the time and within a short time frame as a result of the anti-forgery efforts that the Directorate has always been keen on, and reference can be made to the judicial rulings to verify their dates.

It is also important for us to clarify that, as stated in the aforementioned reports, the forgery operations were not for the passports themselves but for the supporting papers and documents submitted to obtain passports, noting that the role of the General Directorate of General Security is limited to approving official documents and issuing passports based on them in accordance with legal procedures. Therefore, any case of document forgery is not considered the responsibility of the General Directorate of General Security unless collusion is proven between those concerned with issuing these documents and the elements tasked with verifying them in the General Directorate of General Security exclusively.

Based on the above, we hope that media outlets will verify accuracy and obtain information from their official and reliable sources, represented in this case by the General Directorate of General Security and the competent judiciary, before publishing or circulating it.