Berri says won't be upset if Rome talks lead to positive outcome

Commenting on the renewed confrontation between Tehran and Washington, Speaker Nabih Berri has said that "the atmosphere in the region is negative and gloomy as a result of the current escalation," expressing hope that it "will be contained before it worsens, especially since there is ultimately no alternative to returning to negotiations and the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding."

Asked whether the renewed U.S.-Iranian clash proves the validity of the local arguments against linking Lebanon to the Islamabad track and the insistence on the Washington track pursued by the government, he told al-Joumhouria newspaper: "I wouldn't be upset if any track achieved a positive outcome that contributes to halting the aggression and ending the occupation."

"Let them show me a real achievement, not an illusion ... I haven't seen anything yet," Berri added, noting that "the direct negotiations that led to the framework agreement did not yield any real benefits for Lebanon and its rights."

“I would certainly be pleased if they could achieve withdrawal, the return of the displaced, the release of captives, and reconstruction, because what matters to me in the end is achieving the desired outcome,” Berri said.

Reiterating his rejection of the so-called pilot zones, “which, if implemented, would mean that completing withdrawal would take two years,” Berri observed that “most of the proposed pilot zones are not occupied,” warning that “the intention might be to embroil the army in internal confrontations and instigate strife that serves only the Israeli enemy, which seeks to lure us into its trap.”

“This is what we will confront with all the strength and wisdom at our disposal,” Berri added.

He also showed no interest in the upcoming round of negotiations in Rome between the Lebanese and Israeli negotiating delegations, suggesting that it would be “a mere repetition and extension of the same deviated course.”