Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora defended recent steps taken by the government to guarantee security and revealed the complete domination of the Lebanese security system by its Syrian equivalent over the past 30 years, during a parliamentary session to discuss the country's security policy. The session did not end with a vote of no confidence for the government as predicted, despite strong criticism from Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance bloc and MP Michel Aoun's bloc Change and Reform, the main opposition bloc.In response to attacks on the government's performance, Siniora elaborated on the strategies carried out to reinforce security insisting that "complete security is political security in the first stage and requires that the people have a full political consensus over the democracy of the political system." Siniora spoke about the practical steps taken by the Interior Ministry despite the lack of equipment and manpower to restructure and activate the institutions dealing with security. The steps included establishing an independent security operation unit to perform daily patrols as well as greater cooperation among the different security bodies and stricter monitoring of the borders to control infiltration. Siniora said the security agencies have raided several weapons storage houses and assured the Parliament that the level of information gleaned by these bodies is improving.
Siniora stressed the importance of the security appointments as a first step and said "Lebanon has moved away from the controlled and fake security system and we would like to move toward a national security system based on citizen participation." He explained how the Lebanese security system in the past was dominated by the Syrian security regime and took orders from it, adding that the Lebanese security system did not have the means or the networks to gather the necessary information to guarantee security. He said the price for the controlled security was "tutelage over the political life and corruption in the economy." Siniora also said seeking technical assistance from other countries that are capable of helping Lebanon combat terrorism will continue despite all the criticism and refused any link between this assistance and submission to American hegemony in the region.