Mohammed Fahmi (; born 23 May 1958 in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

) is a Lebanese politician and retired general of the

Lebanese Army The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF; ), also known as the Lebanese Army (), is the national military of the Republic of Lebanon. It consists of three branches, the ground forces, the air force, and the navy. The motto of the Lebanese Armed Forces is ...

. He has served as the Lebanese Minister of Interior and Municipalities from 21 January 2020 to 10 September 2021. He succeeded Raya El Hassan.

Background

Fahmi was born from an Egyptian father and a Lebanese mother from the influential Zein family. He joined the Lebanese army in 1978. He became close to the then head of the Lebanese army general

Emile Lahoud Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

(1989–1998) and

Jamil Al Sayyed Jamil Al Sayyed (; born 1950) is a Lebanese politician and a current Member of the Parliament of Lebanon. He is the former head of Lebanon's Sureté Générale or Lebanese General Security Directorate. He was arbitrarily detained and released a ...

who at the time was second in command of the army's intelligence service. The latter played an important role in his designation as minister of the interior in January 2020. He joined the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Hassan Diab Hassan Diab (; born 1 June 1959) is a Lebanese academic, engineer and politician who served as the prime minister of Lebanon from 21 January 2020 to 10 September 2021. He was appointed by President Michel Aoun in 2019 to succeed Saad Hariri as ...

as an independent. He held various offices in the

: head of the bomb squad removal unit, head commander of the

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

military region, and the security department of the military intelligence services. Fahmi studied at the

James Madison University James Madison University (JMU, Madison, or James Madison) is a public university, public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1908, the institution was renamed in 1938 in honor of the fourth president of the ...

in the United States.

Controversy

On 26 June 2020, Fahmi mentioned in an interview at

Al-Manar Al-Manar () is a Lebanese satellite television station owned and operated by the Islamist political party and paramilitary group Hezbollah,

, that he killed two people in 1981 during the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...

, and Michel Aoun promised to protect him back then. Some analysts wrote that the incident might have happened on 25 November 1978, when Fahmi was a lieutenant officer in the Defense Regiment and Major Michel Aoun was a deputy commander of the First Defense Regiment in

Baabda District Baabda District (, transliteration: ''Qada' Baabda''), sometimes spelled ''B'abda'', is a district (''qadaa'') of Mount Lebanon Governorate, Lebanon, to the south and east of the Lebanon's capital Beirut. The region is also popularly known as "Sou ...

. However, the victims might have been from the

Kataeb Party The Kataeb Party (), officially the Kataeb Party – Lebanese Social Democratic Party ( '), also known as the Phalangist Party, is a right-wing Christian political party in Lebanon founded by Pierre Gemayel in 1936. The party and its parami ...

, after the army decided to install barriers near the Kataeb offices in

Haret Hreik Haret Hreik () is a mixed Shia and Maronite Christian municipality, in the Dahieh suburbs, south of Beirut, Lebanon. It is part of the Baabda District. Once an agricultural and Christian village, Haret Hreik lost its rural and Christian identity ...

. In that same interview he mentioned that the Lebanese people have lost faith in the justice system, as it is corrupted and there is deep involvement of Hezbollah and its FPM allies, that prevent real justice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahmi, Mohammed 1958 births James Madison University alumni Lebanese Sunni politicians Living people Politicians from Beirut Interior ministers of Lebanon Independent politicians in Lebanon