Former justice minister and ex-Internal Security Forces head Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi replied on Saturday to Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, saying the official should have pointed his finger at the main parties responsible for the presence of ammonium nitrate that triggered Beirut’s deadly explosion on August 4.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement Secretary-General Ahmed Hariri, ex-minister Ashraf Rifi and Mustaqbal’s candidate Dima Jamali have called on voters to turn out heavily in Tripoli’s upcoming parliamentary by-election.

The joint call was voiced during a tour of the city by Hariri and Jamali during which they met with Rifi.

Former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stressed that he will be waging Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary elections that will be staged based on the new electoral law, and pointed out that those who “tailored it have regretted later.”

Former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi slammed “Hizbullah's armed manifestation” in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Friday, saying it confirms the “state's resignation in favor of statelets,” his media office said in a statement on Saturday

“Although Lebanon's security forces are capable of uprooting drug dealers and contraband promoters, we instead saw yesterday a manifestation that confirms the State's resignation in favor of statelets,” said Rifi in his statement.

Former justice minister Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi has lashed out at his former allies in the March 14 coalition, accusing them of “bowing to Hizbullah.”

The war of words between Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and former justice minister Ashraf Rifi took a new turn after Prime Minister and al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri threw his support behind Mashnouq.

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has warned against what he called “surrendering the presidency” to the candidates of “Bashar Assad and Iran's project,” in reference to Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun.

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi has stressed that he will “fiercely defend” the security of Tripoli and Lebanon, a day after he lauded Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq's request for the government to disband the Tripoli-based Arab Democratic Party and the Islamic Unification Movement faction led by Sheikh Hashem Minqara.

The Mustaqbal Movement will take advantage of the advent of the holy month of Ramadan to bridge gaps among its allies in wake of the recent municipal elections, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anba daily on Sunday.

Sources from the movement said that iftar meals will serve as occasions to overcome divides “among allies and friends.”

Resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi stressed on Monday that his “hand is extended to all sides” in wake of his list's victory in the municipal polls in the northern city of Tripoli, reiterating his commitment to the values of the March 14 coalition.

He said during a press conference: “We voiced our rejection of the control of one political party of Tripoli and the control of the Syrian regime allies of the city's municipality.”