Gemayel Demands Salam to 'Quickly' Form Cabinet, Urges 'Keeping Lebanon Away from Regional Axis'
Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel urged the premier-designate on Monday to “quickly” form a cabinet without any preconditions, stressing also that Lebanon must be “kept away from any regional axis.”
“We demand Tammam Salam to resolve the issue of the cabinet's formation,” Gemayel said after the weekly meeting of Phalange Party's political bureau.
“We must stop setting conditions and counter-conditions and form a cabinet as soon as possible," he stressed.
Gemayel elaborated: “We are not aware of the American Congress' stance towards a military operation in Syria and we know that such a strike can be limited to specific targets and could also have a larger scope.”
“How can we face all of this amid the absence of a cabinet?,” he asked. “President (Michel) Suleiman's powers cannot reduce the roles of all the country's institutions.”
Gemayel urged all factions to form a cabinet “without conditions and to adopt the Baabda Declaration as its policy statement.”
“It is a salvation for Lebanon. It is not in the country's interest to involve it in any regional axis or camp at this stage,” he added.
The former president pointed out that the new council of ministers would constitute a cover “for all official institutions, for the army and the security forces to run matters in the country.”
U.S. President Barack Obama had warned in August he was ready to launch military strikes on Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime over its alleged use of chemical weapons.
Washington has accused the regime of Assad of carrying out the August 21 attack near Damascus, which U.S. officials say killed nearly 1,500 people, including hundreds of children.
Obama, however, said he believed it was important to secure support from Congress to wage war.
The congressional approval is scheduled for September 9.
Regarding the situation of Christians in the region, Gemayel considered that what happened in the historical Syrian town of Maalula is “a stab in the Christians and the opposition's back.”
“What took place in Maalula, especially after the kidnapping of the two bishops in Syria is unacceptable. We urge the the Syrian opposition, whose calls for freedom and democracy we respect, to claim its responsibility and we have made the necessary calls in this regard.”
Maalula is an ancient town that symbolizes the Christian presence in Syria and where residents speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus Christ used by few communities around the world.
The town north of Damascus had been spared from the violence that has rocked Syria since March 2011, until Wednesday when violence broke out there for the first time since the conflict erupted.
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