Speaker Nabih Berri announced Monday that he is encouraging dialogue between Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, noting that he would endorse any agreement they might reach over the stalled presidential vote.
“We had a chance to Lebanonize the presidential election, especially as the foreign forces were preoccupied with their problems,” Berri told a delegation from the council of the Lebanese Press Syndicate that visited him in Ain al-Tineh.
Full StoryHead of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri emphasized on Friday the importance of dialogue in Lebanon as a means to reach solutions to pending issues, while describing as “positive” his talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Wednesday.
He said: “The fact that dialogue with the MP took place is positive and our dialogue with him had started over a year ago.”
Full StoryAl-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri revealed Thursday that the cabinet will resume its meetings “soon”, stressing that any anti-terror strategy can only be implemented “through the army and legitimate security forces.”
“The government will resume its work soon, in light of the contacts I made with Prime Minister Tammam Salam,” Hariri said during a Center House meeting with Arab ambassadors to Lebanon.
Full StoryFormer President Michel Suleiman has accused Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement of launching “campaigns” against him, reiterating that the Baabda Declaration is the solution to the country's crises.
“Where can Hizbullah employ its victory in Lebanon? The solution is to implement the Baabda Declaration, devise a defense strategy and equip the army,” Suleiman said in excerpts of an interview with al-Massira magazine, calling on Hizbullah to immediately withdraw its fighters from Syria, where they are fighting alongside the regime against an Islamist-led revolt.
Full StoryAl-Mustaqbal movement and Hizbullah announced Wednesday after their sixth dialogue session that they explored means to find a “national anti-terror strategy,” amid a continued dispute between them over the state's role in such a plan of action.
The conferees “discussed the mutual calls for finding a national anti-terror strategy and the debate was launched over its mechanisms,” the two parties said in a joint statement.
Full StoryAl-Mustaqbal Movement leader and ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed the importance of dialogue and moderation to combat the terrorism of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), local newspapers reported on Tuesday.
Hariri's statement came during a meeting for the leaders and members of al-Mustaqbal movement at the Center House in downtown Beirut on Monday night.
Full StoryHizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday hit back at al-Mustaqbal movement leader MP Saad Hariri, saying all Lebanese should go to Syria to fight the “serious and real” threat terrorism poses to the entire region, as he stressed keenness on the ongoing dialogue between the two parties.
“I tell those who are asking us to withdraw from Syria, 'Let us go together to Syria and Iraq and to any place that contains a threat to the future of our nation, because that is the right way to defend Lebanon,'” said Nasrallah in a televised speech commemorating Hizbullah's “martyr leaders” – Sheikh Ragheb Harb, Sayyed Abbas al-Moussawi and Imad Mughniyeh.
Full StoryThe Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc voiced on Wednesday its support for the dialogue between Hizbullah and the Mustaqbal Movement and its decision to remove political banners in some regions of the country, hoping for “better” measures that would further ease tensions.
It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “We hope for more comprehensive and tangible measures that would tackle the spread of illegitimate weapons and armed groups in residential areas.”
Full StoryThe border area facing the southern town of Kfarkila witnessed “unusual” Israeli military activity on Thursday, which was monitored by the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.
“The area opposite Kfarkila witnessed unusual Israeli military activity this afternoon,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported.
Full StoryHizbullah on Wednesday condemned as a “brutal crime” the execution by burning of Jordanian fighter pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh at the hands of the Islamic State group, describing the IS militants as “butchers.”
“Hizbullah condemns the brutal, heinous crime that was committed by the IS gang against the Jordanian pilot,” the party said in a statement.
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