Suleiman Calls for Dialogue Based on Baabda Declaration, his Vision on Defense Strategy

President Michel Suleiman called on Sunday for the resumption of national dialogue to agree on a defense strategy based on the Baabda Declaration and the vision he has proposed to bickering officials, a clear answer to Speaker Nabih Berri who a day earlier made a similar but wider initiative.

“We should form an all-embracing government as soon as possible and hold national dialogue to agree on a defense strategy based on the vision I have proposed and on the Baabda Declaration,” Suleiman said in a speech at his summer residence in Beiteddine on the anniversary of the creation of Greater Lebanon in 1920.

Berri called on Saturday for the resumption of the all-party talks among bickering politicians for a period of at least five consecutive days to discuss the form and policy statement of the future cabinet, revive talks on a new electoral law, and support the military to deal with arms in the northern city of Tripoli and salvage the eastern Bekaa Valley and the northern border with Syria from the “chaos of arms and gunmen.”

The initiative also includes a call to address the defense strategy, a thorny issue that hasn't been resolved in the past years over differences on Hizbullah's arms.

Also in his speech Sunday, Suleiman rejected a possible U.S. military strike on Syria in response to the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons, and reiterated the need for a political solution in the neighboring country.

He called for “holding accountable” the persons who allegedly used the weapons.

Suleiman reiterated his call for the implementation of the Baabda Declaration, saying both “local and foreign parties should keep Lebanon at a distance by land and air from the repercussions of what could take place.”

He stated that article 12 of the declaration clearly calls for distancing Lebanon from the region's turmoil.

Suleiman rejected the boycott and obstruction of state institutions. Such acts lead to vacuum and paralyze the institutions, he said.

They also harm the democracy mentioned in the Taef accord, he said.

“Lebanon hasn't been and will never be a dictatorship. It's a civil country that gives rights and believes in modern values,” Suleiman said.

“The Greater Lebanon has kept its democracy. Parliament is the meeting point between sects,” the president said.

“Lebanon is ruled through wisdom and not force,” he added.