Prime Minister Najib Miqati lauded the efforts exerted by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel to maintain stability amid the difficult situation the country is passing through.

“I hope this would be considered as the basis for fortifying the security situation in the long term,” Miqati told As Safir newspaper on Wednesday.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem said Sunday that the party is convinced that Lebanon needs a national defense strategy based on cohesion, the strength of Lebanon and the unity of the army, people and the resistance.

“We should be independent and free and not followers,” Qassem said, calling on the Lebanese to build their future without any foreign intervention.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem contacted on Tuesday Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Qabbani to condole him over the murder of Sheikhs Ahmed Abdul Wahed and Mohammed Merheb.

He stressed the need to “support the army in its mission to protect civil peace and security in Lebanon.”

Hizbullah deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Wednesday that consensus over the electoral law for the upcoming 2013 elections can be reached through the resumption of dialogue among all parties.

“Hizbullah would enter dialogue with anyone and in the end the electoral law will be issued through the parliament, which includes various political blocs,” Qassem said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

Hizbullah deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem urged on Monday ex-Prime Minister Saad Hariri to support the adoption of an electoral law based on proportional representation.

“We are waiting his (Hariri’s) agreement on a fair proportional electoral law, so he gets all the votes of his supporters and the rest of us take the votes of our supporters,” Qassem said in a statement issued by Hizbullah’s media relations department.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday stressed that former premier Saad Hariri was “not the sole representative” of the Sunni sect in Lebanon, noting that the May 7, 2008 events were “an armed clash between two parties.”

“We must work for the sake of Islamic unity and national unity,” Qassem said, stressing that “the disputes are not religious … but rather political, in which the religious slogan is being used for incitement due to their failure to propagate their (political) vision.”

Hizbullah deputy Chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stressed on Saturday that the cabinet will not collapse despite everything, the National News Agency reported.

“March 14 is struggling with its political options and their approach to developments in Lebanon and Syria,” Qassem said.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday called on the March 14 forces to “stop betting on regional developments to alter the balance of power in Lebanon,” stressing that Lebanon will remain “the Lebanon of resistance for tens of years.”

Qassem’s remarks come a day after the March 14 forces held a rally at the BIEL hall in Beirut to commemorate the seventh anniversary of ex-PM Rafik Hariri’s assassination.

Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday hailed the army for “protecting the Lebanese border” and rejected alleged efforts to transform Lebanon into a launchpad for settling political scores.

During a ceremony held in the Ghobeiri neighborhood of Beirut’s southern suburbs, Qassem “saluted the Lebanese army that is safeguarding the Lebanese border, particularly in the northern areas.”

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem condemned the attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on December 9, slamming the March 14 camp and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s accusations that the party was behind the assault.

He said: “We have decided to file a lawsuit against those who made such accusations against us.”