National News Agency – An-Nahar: The “current” forces Bkerki to confront Mikati

NNA – An-Nahar wrote: Amid growing signs of vacuum and domestic political impasse, which are reflected in many aspects of the battles of the word and debates that have escalated recently, has been the monitoring of Lebanon’s “presence” at the Riyadh summits of Saudis- Yesterday the Chinese, Arab-Chinese and Gulf Cooperation Council and if the agendas of these summits expand its crisis to the extent that it reflects Lebanon’s regional and international reality and the scale of interest of influential countries in its crisis. Although the predominantly economic nature of the two summits with China and their nature do not allow us to expect more than diplomatic references to the Lebanese crisis, what was stated in the joint Saudi-Chinese communiqué on Lebanon on the one hand and the presence of the interim prime minister # Najib Mikati with a ministerial delegation at the Arab-Chinese summit, and his speech on Lebanon is in it, and what was mentioned in the GCC statement was an indication that Lebanon occupied an important position in this important event.

However, the characteristics of internal conflicts, which interact at a pace in which sectarian, constitutional and political influences are mixed, similar to what has been happening since the government session earlier this week, which has left hesitations still interacting relentlessly. Although there is no direct link between the bitter controversy that arose after the cabinet session between President Mikati and the “Free Patriotic Movement” and the participation of the first yesterday in the Arab-Chinese summit in Riyadh, there are those who have connected the notable Aounist push specifically towards Bkerki yesterday through a coordinated movement between the founder of the former main movement # Michel Aoun and his heir to the leadership of the movement, the representative # Gebran Bassil, and their relaunch of the positions related to the pact, partnership and whatnot, with Aounist’s team continuing to escalate the battle with Mikati and his allies attending the government session, including “#Hezbollah”. This movement, in the opinion of some concerned observers, constituted a clear attempt to use the Christian dimension leading Bkerki to a renewed negative position with respect to the convening of cabinet sessions, thus attenuating the impact of Mikati’s representation of Lebanon yesterday at the summit of Riyadh and subsequently in various internal and external locations. This dimension seemed to prevail against the background of the two visits that Aoun and Bassil made, a few hours apart, to Bkerke, putting aside the dispute between the Aounist movement and “Hezbollah”, with the Aounist influx to Bkerke, the attention and the positions focused on the conflict over the reality of the government in an attempt to mitigate the contradictions Christianity, which soon emerged in a long-distance dispute between Bassil and the head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, over the dialogue dossier.

Lebanon to Riyadh

As for the presence of the Lebanese crisis in the two summits in Riyadh, first of all Saudi Arabia and China affirmed “their willingness to take the necessary measures to preserve the security and stability of Lebanon”. The closing statement of the Saudi-Chinese summit underlined “the importance of pursuing the necessary reforms, dialogue and consultation to ensure that Lebanon overcomes its crisis, in order to avoid it becoming a springboard for possible acts terrorist groups and incubate terrorist organizations and groups that destabilize the security and stability of the region, or a source or crossing point for drug trafficking”.

Subsequently, President Mikati delivered Lebanon’s speech at the Arab-Chinese summit, and underlined that “it is not strange that the eyes of the world are now fixed on following our meeting for its implications and meanings. Our Arab World , which possesses many human and natural qualifications, is at the center of world interest, first of all the People’s Republic of China, with which we have bonds of friendship and common denominators, and today these relations between the two worlds are reaching a level without He said: “Lebanon looks forward to this summit and will work hard to activate cooperation between it and its Arab brothers, and between it and China, which is the second strongest economy in the world and a center of gravity for the stability, development and global development”.

Regarding the Gulf Cooperation Council, he said in his closing statement: “The firm positions of the Council for cooperation with the fraternal Lebanese people and its continued support for the sovereignty, security and stability of Lebanon and for the Lebanese armed forces they protect the borders and resist the threats of extremist and terrorist groups”. Stressing the importance of implementing comprehensive structural political and economic reforms to ensure that Lebanon overcomes its political and economic crisis and does not become a springboard for terrorists, drug trafficking or other criminal activities that threaten the security and stability of the region, stressing the importance of extending the Lebanese government’s control over all Lebanese territories, including the implementation of the provisions of the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Taif Agreement, so that it can exercise its full sovereignty, so there they will be weapons only with the approval of the Lebanese government, and there will be no other authority than its authority. The Council called on “all Lebanese parties to respect the constitution and constitutional deadlines and to work on everything that can realize the aspirations of the fraternal Lebanese people for stability, progress and prosperity, commending the efforts of Lebanon’s friends and partners in restoring and strengthening trust and cooperation between Lebanon and the GCC countries and their support for the role of the Lebanese army and internal security forces”. In preserving the security of Lebanon.

“The current” in Bkerke

As for the internal scene, and on the impact of the dispute between the “movement” and “Hezbollah” and the escalation of the negative climate due to the failure to elect the President of the Republic by the House of Representatives in nine sittings, the Maronite The Patriarch, the Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, met the “leaders” of the movement yesterday in Bkerke before noon and in the afternoon. He was visited first by the head of the movement, Gebran Bassil, who after the meeting hastened to “hold everyone, Muslims and Christians, responsible for what happened on Monday in the Council of Ministers, which is a terrible thing by deleting the president of the signing of decrees by the Republic. And he added: “I concluded the discussion on the presidential dossier with Patriarch Al-Rahi, where a way must be found to arrive at a candidate who obtains two-thirds of the votes, and we are open to all, but there are those who do not they are open and we cannot force it”. He described the reports on the possibility of nominating someone from the “Free Patriotic Movement” to the presidency as: “a story for fun”. And if he proposes a Christian meeting sponsored by Bkerke and if Geagea agrees to attend the meeting, Bassil said: “Geagea rejects everything .. she does not want to come to Bkerki, nor does she want to start a dialogue.”

Commenting on Bassil’s words on the possibility of holding a Christian meeting in Bkerke, Al-Rahi considered: “We have always been advocates of dialogue, and I have been following my call for dialogue since 2009, and there is no solution except through the dialogue between the parties, whether through a two-way dialogue between me and each team, or through an inclusive dialogue, and inclusive dialogue is fraught with difficulties.” However, Al-Rahi announced that “what happened in terms of holding the cabinet session shouldn’t have happened, especially since several parties were absent from the session”.

Then, former president Michel Aoun visited patriarch Al-Rahi, accompanied by former minister Pierre Raffoul. After the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, Aoun addressed the media with a brief intervention in which he said: “The circumstance requires us to greet His Beatitude the Patriarch, the current situation and your many rights which are not inviolable and a violation of the Charter and the Constitution. This figure will suffice for me, because it is mandatory to keep silent about legitimate speech, because the crisis is great and too much talking is not beneficial”.

On the other hand, the head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, was quick to respond to Bassil through his Twitter account, writing: “Dialogue is a Bedouin of dialogue.”