Miqati Says Army to Remain in Tripoli Hotspots, Proposes 'Integrated' Solution to Political Crisis
Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Tuesday that the Lebanese army will remain in the northern city of Tripoli's hotspots as long as there is a danger of the eruption of another round of violence.
During a chat with reporters at his residence in Tripoli, Miqati expressed satisfaction with the measures adopted by the army.
The premier was in Tripoli to follow up the security situation in his hometown a day after the army completed its deployment in the tense areas and guns fell silent.
The neighborhoods of mostly Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen, whose residents are from the Alawite sect of Syrian President Bashar Assad, witnessed a week of heavy gunbattles after news broke that Lebanese Salafists were killed in an ambush made by Syrian regime troops in the town of Tall Kalakh.
Miqati denied that the Tripoli clashes were the result of political differences between the March 8 parliamentary majority and the opposition March 14 alliance. But said that the sectarian fighting will not lead to any result.
Asked about a dispute between the two camps on an electoral law and calls for his government's resignation, the premier advocated an “integrated process” that would include an agreement on a draft-law and its adoption by the parliament in parallel with the formation of a neutral cabinet that would oversee the 2013 polls.
According to his proposal, the members of such a government would not be candidates for the parliamentary elections.
“My resignation will come only when I find that my existence has no value,” the prime minister told reporters, less than two months after the March 14 opposition blamed his government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan and called for the formation of a new salvation cabinet to oversee the elections.
Miqati also said that Lebanon would move forward only when all the Lebanese agree on steering the country clear of the crisis in Syria.
“If we don't unite, then the country will remain open to dangers,” he warned.
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