Bassil from Ain el-Tineh: All Lebanese do not want war
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil met Tuesday with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh as part of a tour over the military developments in south Lebanon and Gaza.
"It's time for accord, not for confrontation," Bassil said after the meeting, as he called for a swift election of a president.
Bassil had met Monday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat. He also spoke by phone to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
The tour, according to Bassil, aims at "protecting Lebanon" and "reinforcing national unity."
"All Lebanese agree that they do not want war," Bassil said. "But if they attack us, we have the right to defend ourselves," he added.
After meeting Jumblat Monday, Bassil said that the situation requires a national accord in order to protect the country.
Jumblat for his part said he agrees with Bassil that the Lebanese should unite in order to avoid war.
Meanwhile MTV reported that the opposition MPs will decide in a meeting Tuesday how they will deal with Bassil's initiative and how they will meet with him.
There has been widespread speculation as to whether and under what circumstances Hezbollah and its arsenal of an estimated 150,000 rockets and missiles would fully enter the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. The ongoing clashes on the border and anxieties about a wider conflict have internally displaced 19,646 people in Lebanon.
Source: Naharnet
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