Information Minister Walid Daouq told the press following the cabinet’s meeting that Prime Minister Najib Mikati “praised the exceptional achievement of the ISF in the Bekaa.”

This was in reference to the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch’s ambush which resulted in the killing of two men involved in the kidnapping of foreigners ( Estonians ) in the Bekaa region, east of the capital.

“The ISF Information Branch constitutes an organization that fosters the country’s stability and prevents the occurrence of similar incidents,” Daouq quoted Mikati as saying.

“Any attempt to harm the country’s stability will be confronted firmly by the government,” Mikati reportedly added.

According to Daouq, the premier also commended “the coordination between the Interior Ministry, the security forces and the Lebanese army.”

Two men suspected of involvement in the kidnapping of seven Estonians in Lebanon were killed on Monday night in a shootout with police in the Bekaa.

While Mikati has been praising ISF , Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun has repeatedly been campaigning against it ( ISF) and its Information Branch, which arrested Brigadier General Fayez Karam—a senior member of Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement—in August 2010 after suspecting him of collaborating with Israel.

Karam was sentenced this month for two years in prison over spying for Israel ad for providing information on Hezbollah.
Aoun is Hezbollah’s key Christian ally