Cabinet OKs 15 Appointments as Suleiman Asks Bassil to Seek Clarification on Iranian Remarks

President Michel Suleiman said Friday he has asked Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to seek clarifications from Iran regarding remarks by one of its top military officials about southern Lebanon, as the cabinet approved 15 top tier administrative appointments.

“During the national dialogue session (on Monday), a statement attributed to Iranian Revolutionary Guard officials was discussed and the foreign minister was asked to seek a clarification from the Iranian side,” Suleiman said during a cabinet session in Baabda.

On Saturday, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Gen. Yahya Safavi -- a senior military aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- as saying that “Iran's influence and clout has now stretched to the Mediterranean coasts and its line of defense is now in southern Lebanon.”

Suleiman also addressed the presidential and parliamentary elections, stressing “the need to hold them on time and to preserve equal power-sharing (among Christians and Muslims) under electoral rules that eliminate sectarian politicians and not the sects.”

“The government had referred an electoral law based on proportional representation to parliament and there are also other draft laws in its drawers,” the president added.

Separately, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi told reporters before entering the cabinet session that the government cannot but implement any judicial order, in reference to the summons issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon against the journalists Karma Khayat and Ibrahim al-Amin.

“The political authority cannot discuss a judicial resolution,” he added.

Khayat and al-Amin are scheduled to appear before the STL on May 13 on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice.”

According to STL spokesperson Marten Youssef, the two journalists might be sentenced to seven years in jail and/or fined 100,000 Euros if the tribunal finds them to be in contempt of the court.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Alain Hakim reassured that “there won't be a bread crisis and no sit-in will be held on Monday,” noting that “the problem has been resolved.”

Flour mills had started since last Monday to deliver unsubsidized flour to bakeries, after the Ministry of Economy failed to supply them with subsidized stocks for the months of March, April and May.

According to Information Minister Ramzi Jreij, who recited the cabinet session's resolutions, Aurore Feghali was appointed as director general of oil, Rony Lahoud as head of the Housing General Institution, George Labaki as chairman of the board of directors of the National Institute of Administration and Jamal al-Monjed as the institute's director general.

Maysam al-Noueiri was also named as director general at the Ministry of Justice, Youssef Naous as director general at the Ministry of Labor, Dalal Barakat as inspector general at the Central Inspection Bureau, Brig. Gen. Nizar Ali Khalil as head of the Higher Customs Council and Ahmed Halabi as member of the Customs board of directors.

The cabinet also issued a decree endorsing the incumbent Brigadier General Fouad Khoury as acting director general of General Security while Alia Abbas was appointed as director general at the Ministry of Economy.

Meanwhile, Customs director general Shafiq Merhi, Customs board of directors member Gaby Fares and acting director general of co-ops Gloria Abi Zeid retained their posts according to the cabinet resolution.

Y.R.

S.D.B.