BEIRUT: Interior Minister Marwan Charbel assured the public Sunday that the security situation in Lebanon is good, but warned that political divisions could damage the country’s security.

“The political situation affects the security situation. The sharp divisions are reflected on the ground,” Charbel said in an interview with the Voice of Lebanon radio station. “Lebanon is experiencing its most difficult stage. Either we go to the abyss or we unite and proceed with the Cabinet’s work,” Charbel said. He added that his ministry’s priority is ensuring a stable security situation, and called on the government to provide his ministry with 50,000 personnel to that end.

Asked to comment on his warning of renewed political assassinations, Charbel said: “Lebanon is today a fertile ground [for such things.]” He warned of “a fifth column” that is trying to sow strife and dissent among the Lebanese.

Charbel had earlier warned that his ministry has information about the possibility of assassinations. “If an official is assassinated, God forbid, I do not know what might happen to the country,” he said in Paris in October.

The minister also said that the Syrian refugees that enter Lebanon should be monitored in a bid to control crime.

“It is important that we monitor Syrian refugees who are entering the country illegally due to acts of violence in their country as some of them, at times, commit theft and murder,” Charbel said.

There are an estimated 3,798 Syrian nationals registered with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees and Lebanon’s Higher Relief Commission, the agency said in late November. Many decline to register with the agency fearing they might be pursued by Syrian authorities.

Charbel also praised the work of the Social Affairs Ministry and the Higher Relief Committee in providing aid and relief to Syrian refugees currently in Lebanon.