March 14 MPs Hope FM Will Respect Suleiman's Call to Complain against Syrian Shelling of Lebanon
Independent March 14 MPs condemned on Tuesday the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese areas on Sunday, hailing President Michel Suleiman's stance on the matter.
MP Butros Harb said: “We hope Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour would not rebel against Suleiman's demand to file a complaint against the Syrian regime's shelling of Lebanese territory.”
“We hope the March 8 government forces would not stand against the president,” he added after the meeting that was held at his residence.
Suleiman tasked on Tuesday Mansour with sending a letter of protest to Syria over air raids in the northeastern border area that violated Lebanese sovereignty.
Suleiman said the air raids were “unacceptable” and “violated Lebanese sovereignty.”
Syrian warplanes hit on Monday targets along Syria's border with Lebanon.
The National News Agency said the attack hit a remote area near the northeastern town of Arsal.
Mortar and artillery shells from the Syrian side often explode in Lebanon.
Addressing the assaults against four Sunni Dar al-Fatwa clerics on Sunday, Harb said: “The gatherers voiced their concern over the dangerous security developments.”
They criticized the government's silence on the matter and some “statements of incitement” issued by some sides.
They held the government responsible for the current security chaos “because it consented to the spread of illegitimate arms in Lebanon,” noting that some forces within the cabinet are among those who possess these weapons.
On Sunday night two Dar al-Fatwa clerics Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Ahmed Fakhran were assaulted while passing through the Beirut area of Khandaq al-Ghamiq.
Another two clerics, one of them identified as Sheikh Omar al-Imami, were assaulted in the southern suburb of Shiyyah.
Tensions soared in the wake of the two attacks as angry protesters blocked roads in several regions across Lebanon.
Moreover, Harb said that the independent March 14 MPs expressed their concern that the ongoing political disputes in Lebanon would lead to the cancellation of the parliamentary elections, singling out “the rejection of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who is backed by Hizbullah, of any consensual electoral law that would facilitate the staging of the polls.”
He highlighted Aoun's insistence to hold the elections based on either the Orthodox Gathering proposal or according to a law that adopts proportional representation and Lebanon as a single district, noting that these two proposals contradict each other.
“The March 8 camp is seeking to cancel the elections and lead the country towards a vacuum that would allow Iran and Syria to impose their authority over Lebanon,” he declared.
“The state should impose its authority throughout Lebanon and lift political cover off those tampering with the security,” he said.
The lawmaker urged all political powers to place national interests above personal ones and reach an agreement over a new electoral law that offers fair representation for all powers.
In addition, Harb condemned the government's “blatant” negligence of the case of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, urging it to control their flow into the country.
“We urge the government to immediately establish an emergency unit to follow up on the case of Syrian refugees,” he suggested.
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