The competence is a scope of the works of the military courts as provided in the law, and it is under three types:

Territorial Competence

This competence is the regional territorial scope within which the law of the military judiciary is applied, and it comprehends all the Lebanese territories and the foreign territories that the Lebanese Army occupies in exception to the regions comprehended by the competence of the temporary military court relevant to the armed forces in the time of war.


Qualitative Competence

The military courts are concerned in examining:

1. Crimes of evasion of the military obligations
2. Crimes violating the honor and obligation
3. Crimes violating the military order
4. Crimes of the men of the air force and marine force
5. Crimes of treason, spy and illegal relations with the enemy
6. Crimes related to the arms and munitions
7. Crimes committed in camps and in the military establishments and barracks
8. Crimes committed against one of the military persons with the exception of the crimes committed against recruited soldiers and which are not related to the service
9. Crimes perpetrated against the person of the elements of the interior security forces, the general security and the men of the Security of State and the Customs.
10. Crimes perpetrated against civil officers of the Ministry of National Defense and the military courts and before the army, the interior Security Forces and the general security if these crimes are related to the function
11. All types of crimes that cause damages to the interest of the Army or the Interior Security Forces or the General security or the Security of State or the Customs.
12. Crimes perpetrated against one of the elements of foreign army or that cause damages to their interest, unless otherwise agreed upon between the Lebanese Government and the authority to which these armies belong on the determination of the competence.
13. Breaches of the provisions related to the military service.

The competence of the Military Court, of any grade, is restricted to the action of public right without noticing the personal right. And it can decide the restitution of the seized objects as criminal items to their owners in case the law does not impose their confiscation or else they will be seized in favor of the army.
The action on civil right will be brought before the competent civil court and the judgment in this case will be stopped till the final settlement of the action of public right.
At the arising of any negative or positive conflict on the competence of two military judicial authorities, then the authority is to be designated by the military cassation court upon the request of the commissioner.
If this conflict is arising between a military court and a judicial court, then the authority will be designated by the judicial cassation court upon the request of the prosecutor before the cassation court.


Personal Competence

They will be brought in justice before the military court regardless their nationality or the type of the crimes they are charged with:

1. The militaries and their similar, with the exception of the recruited soldiers when committing crimes that do not enter within the scope of the function
2. The policemen of the interior Security Forces, general security and security of state.
3. Prisoners
4. Elements of the forces of foreign armies and civil employees therein, unless otherwise agreed upon between the Lebanese Government and the authorities to which these foreign armies belong on the competence in this concern.
5. The civil employees before the Ministry of National Defense, the Army, the Military Courts, the Interior Security Forces or the General security if their crimes resulted from their function or at the risk of the law.
6. Every original perpetrators, partner, intervener or instigator involved in a crime due to which one of the persons mentioned in the previous paragraphs is referred to the military court.

On the other hand, some crimes involving the individuals of the Interior Security Forces or the General Security or the Security of State do not fall within the competence of the military court and which are:

• Crimes committed by these persons and are not related to their function
• Crimes committed by these persons during the ordinary judicial investigations and because of them.
• Crimes committed by these persons during the sessions of the ordinary courts or committed by them during their summons before the prosecutor and the examining judges.

In addition to that, the crimes perpetrated against these persons out of the function do not fall within the competence of the abovementioned court.