Caretaker Minister of Interior, Mohamad Fahmy, voiced on Tuesday his optimism with regards to the security situation in Lebanon, saying “the security situation in under control.”

“All security apparatuses are taking proactive action at a distinctive level in order to ward off any attempt to destabilize the country,” Fahmy said following a meeting he held with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai in Bkirki.

“We must all be optimistic. Al-Rai’s efforts have opened a ‘gap’ in the government file,” he added.

On March 10, however, Fahmy said the country’s security forces were drained and unable to fulfill their duties as a financial meltdown and political deadlock bite.

Speaking in an interview to the local VDL News, he blamed political parties that were unable to agree on a national rescue plan.

“It is only natural that we are unable to perform our security duties in a complete way amidst this chaos, especially as Lebanese political parties could not put forward a national salvation plan to save the nation,” the minister said.

“Security forces are being drained daily, we have reached rock bottom… I am talking about 90% of our duties, we are no longer able to perform them to protect the people and the nation.”

Lebanon’s financial crisis, which erupted in 2019, has wiped out jobs, locked people out of their bank deposits and raised the risk of widespread hunger.

It has also piled strain on army and security forces as the currency crash wiped out most of the value of their salaries at a time when unrest and crime are surging.

Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri is at loggerheads with President Michel Aoun and has been unable to form a new government to carry out much needed reforms to unlock international aid since his nomination in October.