Berri Says Nasrallah Speech Has No Impact on Dialogue with Mustaqbal, Mashnouq Disagrees

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that the criticism of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech would not have repercussions on the fifth round of talks between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal despite contrary claims by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq.

Local dailies quoted Berri as saying that “negative remarks against Nasrallah's speech won't impact the dialogue,” whose fifth round is set to take place in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday.

Several March 14 officials, including al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc leader MP Fouad Saniora, have lashed out at Nasrallah after a speech he made on Friday.

Saniora on Saturday described the Hizbullah secretary-general's remarks as “hasty and unilateral.”

Nasrallah delivered his speech during a ceremony to honor six Hizbullah fighters killed in the Jan. 18 Israeli airstrike on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, in which he announced that the rules of engagement between the resistance and Israel had ended.

“The dialogue is ongoing and starting this week the Lebanese will witness Beirut clear of all posters and banners for the Amal Movement, Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal,” Berri reportedly told his visitors.

Despite the optimism expressed by Berri, who heads Amal, al-Mashnouq expected the fifth round of talks between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal to be “difficult” after Nasrallah's speech.

The Mustaqbal officials will express their viewpoint during the dialogue session, al-Mashnouq told As Safir daily published on Monday.

But he stressed that the talks “will continue despite the difficulty.”

The interior minister, who is an al-Mustaqbal official, confirmed that the campaign to remove party slogans and banners will start this week.

It will include the capital Beirut, the southern city of Sidon, the northern city of Tripoli, the coastal road and other areas, he said.

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal officials have been holding talks since December to defuse sectarian tension. Among the decisions that they have reached is to remove party posters and banners.