Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Tension is building up ahead of next week’s Cabinet session as ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement and their allies will try to prevent the passing of any decree before the issue of military and security appointments is addressed, FPM officials said Friday.

The FPM’s unyielding stance is likely to set the stage for a new confrontation between the group’s ministers and their allies on the one hand, and Prime Minister Tammam Salam and the majority of ministers on the other, similar to the split that jolted the Cabinet during Thursday’s session, throwing the 24-member government into turmoil.

In an escalation of his moves against the Cabinet for passing a decree before discussing the appointment of senior military and security officers, FPM leader MP Michel Aoun called on his supporters to stage street demonstrations.

“What happened during Thursday’s Cabinet session and what might happen during the next session requires from us an act of strength. Our dignity and presence are at stake,” Aoun told an FPM dinner Friday night.

“All the Lebanese, particularly the Christians, are called upon to take to the street. Next week, you will know what our moves are,” he said. “Next week will be good and there will be a major turning point in Lebanese politics.”

Salam Friday scheduled a Cabinet meeting for next Thursday despite the conflict that erupted with the FPM’s ministers after the government passed a decree, ignoring the issue of military and security appointments.

“The FPM’s ministers will attend next week’s Cabinet session. They will not resign or freeze their participation in the Cabinet,” Antoine Nasrallah, a senior FPM official, told The Daily Star.

He said if Salam tries to pass a decree or take decisions before the Cabinet discusses the issue of military and security appointments, the FPM’s ministers and their allies will oppose the measure.

“If Salam does again what he did this week, he will be setting the stage for a new confrontation because his action will be illegal and unconstitutional,” he added. “This is an extraordinary Cabinet that is exercising the president’s powers. Therefore, a consensus among its members is essential in any decree or decision.” “In particular, this consensus must include two key components of the Cabinet, the FPM and Hezbollah,” Nasrallah said.

Aoun threatened to take action shortly after the Cabinet, in its first session Thursday in nearly a month, passed a proposal to allot $21 million to help export agricultural and industrial products by sea. Accusing the Cabinet of surpassing the president’s powers, Aoun warned that the country was heading for an “explosion.”

Nasrallah said what the FPM leader meant was a political, rather than military explosion. “If we are put into a corner, we are ready for a confrontation. Street demonstrations by the FPM’s supporters is one of the options to exert pressure on the government to meet the FPM’s demands,” he added.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab from the FPM said he and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil would attend the Cabinet session to discuss the decision-making system. He said that without consensus among its members, the Cabinet could not be productive.”The government is [an act] of partnership and accord and it cannot be productive unless it continued in this direction,” Bou Saab said in a TV interview Friday night.

The FPM’s ministers and their allies in Hezbollah and the Tashnag Party argued during Thursday’s Cabinet session that no agenda items should be discussed until security appointments were made. Other ministers maintained that no one had the right to dictate the session’s agenda.

The FPM’s ministers have insisted that they would not allow the Cabinet to discuss any topic before it addresses appointments of new security chiefs, including the appointment of Aoun’s son-in-law, Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Regiment, as Army commander.

Salam issued a stern warning to Aoun against challenging the Cabinet. “No one can impose his position or opinion on others,” he said in remarks published by Al-Liwaa newspaper Friday. He said a majority vote cannot be annulled.

Eighteen ministers out of the 24-member Cabinet voted in favor of allocating $21 million to help export agricultural and industrial products by sea.

“I’m exercising my constitutional powers, and I’m not challenging anyone,” Salam said: “And I won’t allow anyone to challenge me or the Cabinet.”

In an interview published by As-Safir Friday, Aoun accused the Cabinet of violating the Constitution, saying the country was being run by a “mafia.”

“I am fed up,” Aoun said, adding that he was being targeted and vowed to “engage in a confrontation with the Cabinet.”

“I am fighting to enforce reforms and [Christian] rights, that’s why they are all against me,” he said.

FPM lawmaker Ibrahim Kanaan said his party was exploring all options. “All options are open to us. If they choose confrontation like yesterday, let it be,” Kanaan told the Voice of Lebanon radio station. “We will struggle from within and outside the government.”

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk blasted Iran, blaming it for the turmoil and sectarian tensions in the region.

“The Iranian project is translated only into further sectarian tensions and the collapse of the pillars of moderation,” Machnouk told an iftar of Beiruti families at the BIEL complex Friday night.

“The Arab moon will prevail in Beirut, Damascus, Baghdad and Sanaa over the Iranian crescent no matter how long it takes,” he said.