Mustaqbal Says Assad Exploiting Tall Kalakh Ambush to Keep Frictions in Tripoli

Al-Mustaqbal bloc accused on Tuesday the Syrian regime of exploiting the Tall Kalakh ambush to keep the violence and clashes going in Tripoli.

“Assad's regime is procrastinating in the handing over of the fighters' bodies to keep the people of Tripoli occupied with this issue and fighting over it,” Al-Mustaqbal said after the bloc's weekly meeting.

The MPs said that the cabinet is responsible for every drop of blood shed in Tripoli's clashes, accusing some parties of financing and arming fighters in the northern city.

"We repeat our calls for announcing Tripoli an arms-free city,” al-Mustaqbal said, hoping that such a step could soon be implemented in all Lebanese regions.

"This only would restore Lebanon's sovereignty,” the statement explained.

On Sunday, the corpses of three Lebanese fighters killed in Tall Kalakh were retrieved. Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said the rest of the bodies will be handed over in several batches for logistic reasons.

The clashes in Tripoli erupted following reports that said that 14 Salafists, who mostly hail from northern Lebanon, were killed on November 30 in an ambush carried out by Syrian regime forces as they infiltrated the town of Tall Kalakh to fight alongside the Free Syrian Army.

On the Higher Defense Council's initiative towards the city, al-Mustaqbal bloc said: “We were surprised by the decision to deploy the army in the North, although this plan was announced some time ago and this raises a question about the reason the army had left the tense areas in the first place”.

The HDC convened on Sunday following Prime Minister Najib Miqati's request to discuss Tripoli's unrest and decide on the necessary measures to be adopted in the city.

Al-Mustaqbal condemned the alleged death threats received by the Mufti of Tripoli and the north Sheikh Malek al-Shaar, expressing that the clergyman plays a great role in preserving the northern city's stability.

Al-Shaar had announced that he will not be returning to Lebanon from a trip to Europe after he has allegedly received death threats.

VDL said al-Shaar was in Vienna but he will leave to Paris where he will reside until his return.

“The broadcasting of fake recordings requires measures from the judiciary and the National Media Council which must prosecute every violator,” the MPs stated on the al-Akhbar newspaper and OTV's tapes through which they accused the Mustaqbal bloc MP Oqab Saqr of being involved in arming and financing the Free Syrian Army.

Saqr denied these accusations during a press conference he held in Istanbul on Thursday, saying the audiotapes were doctored.

The bloc also praised the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr's request to question several Syria figures in the former Minister Michel Samaha's case.

Judge Saqr completed on Monday his assessment of the case of Samaha, requesting that the investigation expand to include the questioning of Syrian officials, reported the National News Agency.

Saqr requested the questioning of Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk and a colonel identified only as Adnan as suspects in the case.

He also asked that Buthaina Shaaban, Syrian President Bashar Assad's media adviser, be questioned as a witness.

Saqr has since referred his assessment to First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida.

Samaha was arrested in August on charges of forming a criminal gang aimed at carrying out attacks in Lebanon at Syria's behest.

Mamlouk and Syrian colonel Adnan have been also charged in the affair. Media reports had said in October that Shaaban may also be linked to the case.

Commenting on the new wage scale, Al-Mustaqbal warned the cabinet against adopting any measures that do not take the financial situation of people with limited income into consideration.

The cabinet had failed again on Monday to refer the new wage scale to the parliament for a vote, inciting a series of nation-wide strikes called for by the Syndicate Coordination Committee.