Geagea: Budget Could've Been Better, Overlooking Arsal Incident Unacceptable
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday said the draft 2019 state budget which was approved earlier in the day by Cabinet “could've been better.”
“We're happy that the budget has been approved and it is better than the traditional budgets, but it could've been better,” Geagea said during a meeting with a delegation from the Editors Syndicate.
The LF leader also questioned “how LBP 40 billion were added to the budget at the last moment” for the benefit of the Ministry of Internally Displaced People.
“We will not accept that these funds be dispensed to cronies but rather as part of a clear timeframe and plan,” Geagea added, in an apparent jab at the Free Patriotic Movement.
Turning to recent deadly incident in Arsal's outskirts, Geagea accused Lebanese authorities of overlooking the death of a Lebanese citizen and the suspected abduction of two others.
“I call on the President and the Premier to launch a full probe into the Arsal incident and the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon must be summoned,” Geagea urged.
“It is unacceptable to overlook what happened,” he said.
Hussein al-Hujeiri's body was handed over to Lebanese authorities on Saturday after he was killed by Syrian forces while on a “hunting trip” with two other Arsal residents, Wissam Kranbi and Nayef Rayed, media reports said.
The fate of Kranbi and Rayed remains unknown.
Source: Naharnet
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