Hariri to Aoun: We Gave Army Full Cover and We Wish You Did the Same When Hizbullah Attacked
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday responded to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun's accusations of his party supporting gunmen against the military institution, assuring that he gave “full political cover” for the army in its fight in the southern city of Sidon.
"We announced our support for the army in words and in deeds, and gave it full cover to strike with an iron fist anyone who may be tempted to assault the state and threaten national peace,” Hariri said in a released statement.
The FPM leader earlier on Tuesday had held politicians, al-Mustaqbal Movement and “unqualified members” in the army's intelligence responsible for Sidon's clashes, noting that the incident is linked to other “countries and to locals who financed it.”
“Politicians and al-Mustaqbal Movement's neglect have lead to this situation, just like what happened in (the northern city of) Akkar,” Aoun said.
Addressing Aoun, Hariri added: “I wish you had done the same when the army was attacked by your ally Hizbullah in Mar Mikhail, or after the helicopter incident and the martyrdom of Officer Samer Hanna.”
Army 1st Lieutenant Samer Hanna was killed in August 2008 when gunmen opened fire on his helicopter over Sojod hills in south Lebanon.
Investigations revealed that Hanna's shooter is a Hizbullah member.
The al-Mustaqbal Movement head slammed Aoun's “proclamation of an exclusive right to approach the extension of Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji's term.”
“As for your claim of knowing the army and its command better than anyone else, it is doubtful, if we recall the leadership which found that escaping the presidential palace under the pressure of its bombing by the Syrian regime -the present ally and the previous enemy of the General- was the best way to express exemplary command.”
Hariri stressed that “the army is for all the Lebanese, Christians and Muslims.”
“The army command embodies this national concept since the establishment of the military institution, and no political or confessional group has the right to claim monopolizing it,” he elaborated.
Aoun had stressed that extending the term of Qahwaji “must not be the price for the troops' sacrifice in Sidon, explaining that “he does not want to manipulate the military institution's law.”
Aoun added: “We are the ones who should give our opinion regarding the army's chief as per the traditions of appointments and we are the representatives of Christians in the cabinet.”
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