Spotlight
A March 14 official has stressed that the new government would be shaped according to Hizbullah’s will unlike what the Shiite party leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has claimed.
In remarks to An Nahar newspaper on Sunday, the officials said: “The cabinet will not be as (Premier-designate Najib) Miqati wants it to be. It will surely be a government based on Hizbullah’s desires.”
Full StoryHead of the Israeli defense ministry's political-security bureau Amos Gilad has said that Iran and Syria were supplying Hizbullah with missiles via planes and ships, adding that the Shiite party has more than 45,000 missiles.
“This poses a threat to Israel,” Gilad told the Kuwaiti al-Rai daily in remarks published Sunday.
Full StoryHizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed pride in the party’s ties with Iran and slammed Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri for allegedly “making a big mistake” in harming Lebanon’s relations with Tehran.
“We are proud of our relationship and alliance with Iran and Syria,” Nasrallah said in a statement broadcast on television on Saturday night.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman stressed on Saturday the need for calming the political rhetoric in Lebanon and returning to dialogue.
He said: “Internal affairs can only be settled through dialogue, cooperation, and national consensus.”
Full StoryThe Lebanese Foreign Ministry delegation, headed by foreign ministry director general Haitham Joumaa, began on Saturday evacuating Lebanese expatriates in the Ivory Coast from Abidjan airport to the airport in Ghana’s capital Accra.
Joumaa informed the National News Agency in a telephone call from Abidjan airport that a Boeing 737 has been rented to transport 200 passengers to Accra over a two-phase operation.
Full StoryHead of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Political-Military Affairs department Amos Gilad has reportedly said that U.S. support for the Lebanese army will weaken Israel.
“A strengthened Lebanese army hurts Israel,” Gilad stressed.
Full StoryThe daily An Nahar reported on Saturday that the latest government structure that was agreed upon called for granting Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun ten ministers, President Michel Suleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat eleven, and the rest of the March 8 camp nine ministers.
The Interior Ministry portfolio would be granted to a figure agreed upon by all sides and who is not affiliated with any of the political powers.
Full StoryThe European Union's ambassador to Lebanon, Angelina Eichhorst revealed that she had met with Hizbullah officials who informed her of the party’s positions on international resolutions on Lebanon.
She told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday that the U.N. Security Council resolutions cannot be addressed selectively, but they should be viewed as a whole package.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced his annoyance with the renewal of the political and media dispute between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah.
He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday: “Based on my experience with Hizbullah and the Shiite sect, Hariri must understand the party’s cultural and ideological structure and its connection with Wilayat al-Faqih.”
Full StoryObservers noted on Saturday that the dispute between Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Iran will be limited to the Lebanese internal scene, stressing that Lebanon will not succumb to the regional tensions.
A prominent political source told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Saturday that what appears to be a dispute over Lebanese-Iranian ties in fact stems back to the Saudi-Syrian initiative that was aimed at ending the Lebanese political crisis, which it turned out Iran had obstructed.
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