Berri-Mouawad rift triggers flurry of fiery statements

Independent MP and presidential candidate Michel Mouawad said Friday that he will not accept to be insulted, after Speaker Nabih Berri described him as an “in vitro experiment” candidate.

"What Berri said is not acceptable," Mouawad said. "We are not students in a classroom."

After meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, Mouawad said that he is proposing a project to "restore the state" and implement international resolutions. "This is not only our project, it is also a project for Lebanon," he went on to say.

In an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published Thursday, Berri had described the opposition's presidential candidate as an "in vitro experiment”, which infuriated Mouawad who hit back in a barb-filled statement, describing Berri as "a militiaman" and a "master of corruption."

Mouawad claimed that Berri's insult also targets Zgharta and the North, asking Berri's candidate Suleiman Franjieh, born in Zgharta, whether he accepts "the insult."

Al-Marada media office responded to Mouawad in a statement that supported Berri. "Berri is and will always be a man of dialogue," the statement said. "We hope that you (Mouawad) would return to Zgharta's values."

The Progressive Socialist Party also supported Berri, as it stated that "it would be preferable if some people heeded Berri's call for dialogue instead of distributing absurd accusations against him."

"In these difficult times, only dialogue is the way to salvation," the PSP said.

The Watani civil society alliance, and the Tajaddod parliamentary bloc supported Mouawad. The bloc refused in a statement, "the imposition of a president on parliament." "Berri doesn't have the right to impose his president," the bloc said.

Head of Foreign Affairs in the Lebanese Forces Party, Richard Kouyoumjian, also supported Mouawad in a controversial tweet in which he replied to Berri's in-vitro description with a criticism of the Shiite Mutaa marriage, saying it is adultery and results in illegitimate children.

The remarks infuriated Hezbollah and the Higher Islamic Shiite Council, but Kouyoumjian later apologized, explaining that his remarks were political and not religious.

"I meant the political marriage between the Shiite Duo and Franjieh," Kouyoumjian said.