Cabinet won't discuss army chief file in 'foreseeable future’
Cabinet will not convene next week nor in the foreseeable future to discuss the army chief file, governmental sources said.
“The study prepared by Council of Ministers Secretary-General Judge Mahmoud Makkiyeh has not settled the choices but has offered several options, each with a specific mechanism and results,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday.
“Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is taking his time because Hezbollah has not taken a decision regarding the file,” the sources added.
“Hezbollah has become embarrassed and is facing two choices: satisfying Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil through the appointment (of a new army chief), or standing in the face of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and not endorsing the choice of extension,” the sources went on to say.
“Once he returns from the climate summit that will be held in the UAE next week, Mikati will hold a new round of contacts in order to act accordingly,” the sources said.
“Mikati will likely not propose extension in Cabinet so that the decision does not get appealed. He will meanwhile support appointment, seeing as it falls under the government’s powers, but he prefers political consensus over it,” the sources added.
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