BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman hailed police and the Lebanese Army for maintaining security and urged citizens to rally behind security forces, in a statement released Monday.

Sleiman praised "the role of the military and security forces, on top of all the Army, for maintaining security and civil peace and for preventing strife, particularly under the [difficult] circumstances the region is going through," a statement issued by the president’s office said.

He pointed to the latest efforts by security forces to keep peace and order in towns and villages where municipal elections were held.

“This shows that there is no alternative to legitimate [state authority] over security which is the only guarantor of citizens’ and homeland security,” Sleiman stressed.

Sleiman called on “everyone to unite behind these forces” and avoid a standoff with police or the Army “because it is the interest of everyone, without exception, to rally behind the state and its security agencies, particularly because a security collapse will not provide any political or security umbrella to anyone."