Al-Rahi voices pain over deaths of both Kahale man, Hezbollah member
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday expressed his "pain and grief with the dear residents of Ain Ebel" over the death of Lebanese Forces member Elias Hasrouni, who was abducted and killed earlier this month.
"He struggled with them during the years of resilience and struggle," al-Rahi added.
Turning to the deadly Kahale incident, the patriarch expressed solidarity with residents and said Fadi Bejjani was "the victim of Hezbollah's arms truck."
"We're also pained by the fall of a victim from its (Hezbollah's) ranks," al-Rahi added.
Stressing that "the investigation should be left to the military institution, security agencies and the judiciary, out of our permanent faith in the state and its institutions," al-Rahi added: "We will not deviate from the approach of the state and we will not descend into living without it at a time we are calling on the country's components and parties to be under the state's authority, especially as to the use of arms."
The patriarch also emphasized that "it is impossible to live on one land with two states, two armies, two authorities and two sovereignties."
"That's why the Taif Agreement should be implemented," al-Rahi added, while calling for "the election of president as soon as possible."
"The failure to elect a president since last September is unjustified, seeing as he is the guarantor of state institutions' revival and the preserver of the coexistence formula," the patriarch went on to say.
Source: Naharnet
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