Mustaqbal: Govt. Represents Vacuum Itself, Hollande Visit Supported Lebanon Sovereignty

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday noted that the main players in the government are trying to “mislead the Lebanese into thinking that the alternative to this government would be a protracted power vacuum, while the facts indicate that the persistence of this government in power is vacuum itself and is the cause of a major damage to the national interest.”

In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc said “French President Francois Hollande's visit to Lebanon carried a great positivity, despite its short duration,” adding that “it contributed to supporting the values of the sovereign, independent Lebanon and to protecting it from the threats affecting the region nowadays.”

Hollande warned on Sunday that Paris would prevent any attempt to undermine Lebanon's stability, advising political forces to join hands through dialogue to avert a further crisis.

“I would say to all those who can contribute to the stability of Lebanon to work through the spirit of dialogue,” Hollande said at a joint press conference with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace during a short trip to Beirut.

The French president also said there should be no impunity in the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the recent murder of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau Chief Wissam al-Hasan.

The bloc also condemned the recent attack that wounded 12 Internal Security Forces personnel at a checkpoint in the Bekaa border town of Arsal, reiterating its call for “arresting the perpetrators and taking the applicable legal measures against them.”

Al-Mustaqbal's lawmakers repeated their demand that the Lebanese army be deployed on Lebanon's border with Syria in order to put an end to “the recurrent attacks by the Syrian regime's army or any other parties that violate Lebanese sovereignty.”

“A verbal clash erupted when the members of the checkpoint asked unidentified individuals about the name of a wounded man they were trying to transport via the Hmeid Valley in Arsal's barren mountains after he was injured in clashes in Syria,” said a statement issued by the ISF on Friday.

The aforementioned individuals were then allowed to enter Lebanon together with the wounded man due to his medical condition, the statement added. “Shortly after this incident, around 70 men attacked the aforesaid checkpoint and beat up its members, wounding 12 of them,” the ISF said.

The attackers also “opened fire from assault rifles on the checkpoint and on a military vehicle,” according to the communique. A security official had told Agence France Press that at 5:15 am a group of armed men drove their pick-up truck across the Syrian-Lebanese border near the town of Arsal, sparking a firefight.

Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) said the Lebanese army sent reinforcements to Arsal to search for supporters of pro-Mustaqbal municipality chief Ali al-Hujairi who had assaulted the policemen in Wadi Hmeid.

According to VDL (93.3), the policemen were injured in the fighting that pitted Arsal residents and members of the rebel Free Syrian Army against the security forces over the transfer of the injured Syrian opposition fighter to Lebanon.

Separately, the bloc condemned the remarks of some Hizbullah lawmakers "who said that opposing the Resistance's arms and its modus operandi is against the Taef Accord.”

These remarks “are a blatant violation of the Taef Accord and the National Charter, not to mention that it is an attempt to divert attention from the crime of the assassination of martyr Major General Wissam al-Hasan,” said the bloc.

It also warned of “the repeated intimidation attempts, the last of which was (the death threats) received by colleague (MP) Hadi Hbeish via his father, after assassinations and assassination attempts failed to sway the bloc's permanent and firm political stance.”