Report: Berri in Consultations with Hizbullah to Immunize Government

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to launch several decisive stances that would take the form of a “roadmap” in his upcoming speech during the commemoration of the 39th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions, a media report said on Monday.

“Berri will stress his insistence on the package deal and will call for an approach that preserves internal stability and unity,” al-Liwaa newspaper said.

The speaker's speech is supposed to draw a roadmap ahead of the national dialogue session and the presidential vote session that are scheduled for September 5 and 7, the daily added.

“The speaker is consulting with Hizbullah with the aim of sparing the cabinet any blows, especially amid the regional developments in Syria and the neighboring countries and the escalation of Israeli threats against Lebanon,” al-Liwaa quoted an informed source as saying.

“Berri will stress the importance of continuing the bilateral dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement seeing as it is a shield preventing the spread of the regional fire to Lebanon, despite any escalatory stances by the parties,” the source added.

Earlier media reports had spoken of a meeting between Berri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that followed the latter's recent stances on the presidency and the premiership.

Nasrallah has hinted that Hizbullah is willing to accept to the re-designation of Mustaqbal leader ex-PM Saad Hariri as prime minister in return for the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun as president.