War of words between Kataeb, SSNP after Gemayel's Shartouni slur

A war of words flared Wednesday between the Kataeb Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party after Kataeb chief Sami Gemayel derogated Habib Shartouni, a fugitive SSNP member convicted of the 1982 assassination of president-elect Bashir Gemayel.

“Habib Shartouni is at the same level of the outsoles of your shoes,” Gemayel said in a speech to Kataeb cadres on Tuesday.

The SSNP hit back in a statement on Wednesday, saying it understands “the miserable psychological state that MP Sami Gemayel has reached due to his inability to implement the various demands of his handlers, in addition to his unfitness to contend with his competitors within the same camp.”

The party also called on its members and supporters “not to be dragged into such a rhetoric.”

Kataeb snapped back, noting that Gemayel did not mention the SSNP in his remarks on Tuesday, accusing the party of “continuing the campaign that Hezbollah had started against Gemayel.”

“The endorsement of Shartouni requires the immediate dissolution of this party and its remnants without any delay,” Kataeb added, while ridiculing the SSNP for failing to win any seat in the latest parliamentary elections.