Al-Mashnouq Calls for 'Huge Step' to Consolidate Dialogue
Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has called for a major step to protect the decisions reached by Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal officials and prove that the dialogue between them is credible.
“There is an urgent need for a huge step that proves the credibility of dialogue with foes and protects the achievements made so far,” al-Mashnouq told As Safir daily in remarks published on Wednesday.
He warned that failure to take such measures would lead both parties into a vicious circle, in particular that no solution seems to be looming n the horizon on the presidential deadlock.
Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal began holding talks in December. Among the decisions they have reached is the removal of the political cover off gangs and wanted criminals ahead of the implementation of a security plan in the eastern Bekaa Valley.
The much-anticipated plan is likely to be implemented by 1,000 soldiers and another 1,000 policemen and General Security officers starting Thursday morning.
The rival parties have also agreed to remove party banners and flags from Beirut and other cities. This campaign was launched last week.
The conferees are expected to discuss the presidential crisis in their next session, whose date hasn't been set yet.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since President Michel Suleiman's term ended in May last year.
Al-Mashnouq said on Tuesday that he would not allow black flags with Islamic writings to be raised in Lebanon.
Such flags are used by the Islamic State extremist group and al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.
“Lebanese soldiers were killed under the name of such flags,” he told As Safir on Wednesday.
The IS and al-Nusra Front took Lebanese soldiers and policemen hostage in August last year and later executed four of them.
In his remarks to the newspaper, al-Mashnouq also expressed his satisfaction with the near-daily coordination between him and Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji on security issues.
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