Salam Dismisses Claims on Climate to Embrace Terrorism, Calls for Reviewing Cabinet Mechanism

Prime Minister Tammam Salam rejected claims that the Sunni community in Lebanon had created a climate that embraces terrorism and said that the right of veto exercised by cabinet ministers required a new approach.

“All the requirements for a security confrontation are now available and all the needs for a patriotic confrontation such as thwarting any attempt to saw strife have also been guaranteed,” Salam told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in an interview.

“It has become clear for everyone that all that is being rumored about the presence of a climate embracing terrorists in Lebanon, particularly among the Sunni community and in the North, has been dissipated,” he said.

“There is now security stability and (security agencies have deployed) across the nation,” Salam added.

Lebanon began facing a growing threat of terrorism when the Islamic State extremist group along with Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, al-Nusra Front, established footholds in remote mountains along the country's remote eastern border.

The terrorists launch from there almost daily incursions further afield.

Their rise led to jihadi recruitment in impoverished Sunni areas of northern Lebanon. Many extremists from the area have clashed with the Lebanese army and carried out suicide attacks both inside and outside Lebanon.

The growing resentment came after Hizbullah sent its fighters to Syria to help President Bashar Assad against the rebels seeking to topple him.

The premier praised the Lebanese army for “bravely and boldly” confronting the Syria-based militants on the northeastern border despite the casualties it has suffered.

The terrorists “have no brain nor religion in their wars,” said Salam.

Asked about reports that militant groups are now occupying four percent of Lebanese territories, the premier said that the gunmen mingled with the residents of the northeastern border town of Arsal.

The population of Arsal is 35,000 while the number of Syrian refugees in and around the town nears 100,000, he said, adding “the armed groups are taking advantage of this intermingling.”

About criticism that some Lebanese parties are involved in the civil war in Syria, Salam said: “This requires a delicate approach.”

The government has dissociated itself from the crises in the region and mainly in Syria. “But this policy and the developments on the ground do not match,” he said.

“Such a status quo is having severe repercussions on Lebanon,” the premier added.

He stressed, however, that he is holding contacts with Hizbullah and other factions to resolve the matter.

Salam also confirmed reports that he is exerting efforts to resolve the mechanism according to which his cabinet functions.

“There is a need for a review and a new approach. I am seeking along with the political factions to help ourselves and facilitate our work,” he told his interviewer.

The cabinet began exercising the president’s prerogatives after the parliament failed to elect a successor to Michel Suleiman.

Salam has adopted the collective vote formula that requires the approval of the 23 ministers on major decisions. Such a process is hindering the government's work over the veto right that certain cabinet members are exercising.

The premier is scheduled to travel to Germany on Thursday to attend the three-day Munich Security Conference.

He is among 20 heads of government and state on the guest list, along with 60-odd foreign and defense ministers including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov.

Salam is expected to give his speech at the conference on Friday night.

The event's organizer, veteran German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, said the meeting will discuss what he called an unprecedented upsurge in global crises over the past year, and the inability of the international community to tackle them.

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