Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri will meet Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai in Rome Monday for talks centering on the nearly 5-month-old presidential deadlock, Future MP Ammar Houri said Sunday.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, meanwhile, pleaded with the Lebanese to rally behind the Army in its battle against terrorist groups, saying the military’s role should be bolstered to protect Lebanon’s security and stability.
“The presidential election will be the main topic in the talks between [former] Prime Minister Hariri and Patriarch Rai,” Houri told The Daily Star.
The lawmaker reiterated the Future Movement’s demand for priority to be given to the election of a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year term ended on May 25.
“The Future Movement’s first option is the election of a president, while rejecting holding parliamentary elections amid the vacancy in the top presidency post,” Houri said.
The planned meeting with Rai comes a week after Hariri held talks with French President Francois Hollande in Paris focusing on the $1 billion Saudi grant to bolster the Lebanese Army’s capabilities in the battle against terrorism.
Berri’s appeal to rally behind the Army came a day after the United States pledged to stand alongside Lebanon in its war on ISIS.
It also followed a warning by Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi that ISIS was seeking to secure a safe access to the sea through the Lebanese coast and to incite sectarian strife by counting on support from sleeper cells in the northern city of Tripoli and Akkar.
Speaking on the sidelines of an Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Geneva, Berri underscored the need for “combined efforts by everyone to confront the terrorist threat hanging over Lebanon by rallying around the Army to help it face attacks on it at the hands of terrorist groups.”
“The Army’s role must be strengthened to protect the country’s security and stability,” the speaker said.
Military posts have come under fire by unidentified gunmen in northern Lebanon in the past few days in attacks which, according to a senior military official, were aimed at denting the Army’s battle against terrorism and ensuring a safe access for ISIS and Nusra Front militants entrenched on the outskirts of the Bekaa town of Arsal.
Berri, heading a parliamentary delegation, arrived in Geneva Saturday to attend the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s 131th conference.
The conference’s deliberations are likely to be dominated by the threat of terrorism and extremism sweeping across the Middle East. The Inter-Parliamentary Union’s opening session will begin Monday at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose country is spearheading an international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq, expressed continued U.S. support for the Lebanese Army, saying Washington stood alongside Lebanon in its battle against terrorism.
In a letter to Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil Saturday, “Kerry expressed his appreciation for what Lebanon is doing in its war against terrorism and thanked Minister Bassil for participating in the international effort in that regard.”
Kerry said the “U.S. stood alongside Lebanon in its war on ISIS on the Lebanese border and inside and expressed the U.S. continued cooperation and military support,” according to a statement released by Bassil’s office.The renewed U.S. support for Lebanon comes as Kahwagi is due to visit America this week for talks on military aid to the Lebanese Army.
Kerry and Bassil attended a regional conference in the Saudi city of Jeddah last month that led to the formation of the U.S.-led international coalition to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq. Lebanon has not officially joined the coalition due to differences among its political parties.
The Lebanese Army battled ISIS and Nusra Front militants in August in Arsal, after the militants briefly seized the town. The Army has since then engaged in intermittent clashes with militants near the border.
The U.S. has delivered light and heavy weapons to Lebanon in the past few weeks estimated at over $9 million.
For his part, Rai lashed out at Lebanese lawmakers for failing to elect a president, saying the MPs have abused their mandate by leaving the country without a head of state for more than four months.
“We appeal to Parliament in Lebanon which, with deep regret, has failed in its 13th session to secure a quorum and elect a president,” Rai said during his Sunday Mass sermon in Rome. He added that the presidential vacuum is “a disgrace to the deputies who apparently have yet to come up with a new serious initiative to secure a quorum and elect a president.”
“The people have lost confidence in the MPs. They have granted the MPs a mandate when they elected them [to Parliament] so that they can elect a president and do their legislative duty,” Rai said.
Separately, Future officials slammed Hezbollah over its military intervention in Syria. Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi called on Hezbollah to apologize to the Lebanese and Syrian peoples for its involvement in the Syrian war.
“The [Syrian] regime and its allies bear a large part of the responsibility for the chaos and ruin that hit the region,” Rifi said during a memorial ceremony for slain former National Liberal Party leader Dany Chamoun Saturday.
He called on Hezbollah to withdraw its fighters from Syria and make way for the Lebanese Army to protect the border from terrorists.
Future MP Ahmad Fatfat said Hariri would not return to Lebanon until all “illegitimate” arms are handed over to the state.
“The threat against Saad Hariri will remain as long as there are illegitimate weapons in Lebanon,” Fatfat told the Voice of Lebanon radio station, in reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal.
Hariri has lived abroad since 2011 over security concerns. He returned to Lebanon in August for a brief visit.
Fatfat lashed out at Hezbollah for exploiting its resistance status to achieve internal political gains and bolster the Syrian army in its war against rebels.
By Hussein Dakroub.
