Miqati Says Doesn't Want to 'Challenge a Lebanese Component'

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Friday warned that “any call for holding a Cabinet session without resolving the current crisis would be considered a challenge by a Lebanese component and might be followed by resignations from the government.”

“That’s why I will not subject the government to any harm,” Miqati added, in an interview with a delegation from the Editors Syndicate.

“The government is continuing its work and the contacts are ongoing to secure the resumption of Cabinet sessions,” the premier went on to say.

Noting that the government’s resignation would be “the easiest solution but the biggest evil,” Miqati said such a step “would not lead to a solution.”

“Resignation would lead a further deterioration of the situations and possibly to the postponement of the parliamentary elections,” the premier went on to say.

Miqati also reassured that there is “full cooperation” between him and President Michel Aoun, noting that “the reports about disputes are aimed at stoking political tensions in the country.”

Separately, the premier reassured that “there is an international decision on preventing Lebanon’s collapse and on halting the dire situations and the continuation of the current deterioration.”

“There is a foreign and domestic umbrella protecting the government’s work,” he added.

Miqati also revealed that he has called for “a broad ministerial-security meeting this afternoon to take extra executive steps related to controlling smuggling; combating the trafficking of Captagon and the rest of narcotics; ending the manipulation of the currency exchange rate; and combating the manipulation of the prices of commodities and foodstuffs.”