The Secretary of the Bakery Syndicate in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, Nasser Sirour, assures that "after the Ministry of Interior appointed the State Security and Information Branches, and with the file being managed by the director of the Minister of Interior's office, Brigadier General Mohamed Sheikh, and the Deputy Director of State Security, Brigadier General Samir Shaqir, the bread crisis in all Lebanese regions has subsided. In the coming hours, we will witness a complete end to the crisis as bakeries will receive full flour allocations through schedules issued directly from the ministry to the mills, as we previously requested as a bakery syndicate." He continues in a conversation with "Al-Markaziah": "Achieving the first step is considered one of the most important elements in solving the crisis. When the bakeries receive the flour, and the Ministry of Economy issues a fair pricing for the bread bundle based on the rise and fall of the dollar exchange rate and raw materials, the bakeries will not stop distributing or selling bread in stores or during the days of support for bread-related materials."
He confirmed that "the majority of bakeries have not hoarded, declared a strike, or closed their doors to their people. The Bakery Syndicate strongly condemns what is happening today regarding the hoarding and sale of bread bundles in the black market and requests that security forces arrest anyone proven to be involved and refer them to the competent judiciary because the bakeries adhere to the official price and weight issued by the Ministry of Economy." To prevent the recurrence of queue crises, Sirour requests the "Ministry of Economy to open all credits available in its offices and transfer them to the Central Bank of Lebanon after being signed by the Minister of Finance. We also demand that the ministry adopt a regular mechanism for importing wheat to avoid repeating the scenario of the 60-day crisis because there is congestion of ships at the Ukrainian port and difficulties in loading. Several ships for the mills have been ready to depart from the Ukrainian port for about a month, especially for transporting un-subsidized extra wheat."
He thanks "the security forces for their efforts," hoping that "they maintain the same determination as they have saved the country and bakeries from ruin and protected the people's bread from hoarding, humiliation, and the black market, and continue day and night to monitor the details to reach a comfortable conclusion that does not turn back the clock."
