4.2 Internal Security Forces (ISF)
The Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF), Lebanon’s primary national police agency,272 are composed namely of the Beirut police, judicial police, mobile gendarmerie and territorial gendarmerie.273
As of 2024, the Lebanese police number about 24 500 officials, down from 30 000 before the 2019 crisis, with 500 expected to retire each year.274
During the period between October 2019 to May 2024, over 1 000 ISF members reportedly left the service amid declining wages and ‘forcibly renewed contracts’.275
According to the International Crisis Group reporting on August 2025, the ISF face significant challenges in carrying out law enforcement and maintaining public security due to chronic resource shortages, limited budgets, inadequate equipment, frequent political interference undermining impartiality, and the ongoing economic crisis, which impacts its operational capacity.276 Within the ISF, widespread clientelism has further weakened institutional integrity, with recruitment and promotion often tied to political loyalty rather than merit, undermining professionalism and eroding public trust in law enforcement.277
- 272
International Crisis Group, Supporting Effective Policing by Lebanon’s Embattled Security Agencies, 27 August 2025, url
- 273
Lebanon, Lebanese Internal Security Forces, information observed on 14 July 2025, url
- 274
L’Orient Today, ISF’s recent recruitment campaign, 13 March 2024, url
- 275
L’Orient Today, 'If I come back I'll be sent to jail': Why solving ISF desertion problem is complicated, 27 May 2025, url
- 276
International Crisis Group, Supporting Effective Policing by Lebanon’s Embattled Security Agencies, 27 August 2025, url
- 277
Stedem, K. (2025). Policing for patrons: Clientelism & Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 3 June 2025, url