Wassim Mroueh| The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Future Movement and Hezbollah agreed during their eighth dialogue session Wednesday to bury the weekend’s tensions and restore the momentum which characterized their earlier meetings.
“Attendees stressed the need to maintain serious and continuous dialogue, as it is a main pillar in the preservation of the stability of the country, and protects Lebanon from what is happening in the region,” read a terse joint statement released following the four-hour talks.
“The [two parties] also agreed to continue discussing items on the agenda with the same momentum which characterized the first [dialogue session].”
Held at the Ain al-Tineh residence of Speaker Nabih Berri, the talks are aimed at helping elect a new president and improving Sunni-Shiite relations.
After initial progress in reducing sectarian tension through the removal of political banners, tension soared again in recent days, with officials from both groups trading accusations in media.
As in past sessions, the Future bloc was represented by Nader Hariri, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s chief of staff, as well as Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and MP Samir Jisr.
Attending the talks on behalf of Hezbollah were Hussein Khalil, a political aide to party leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan and MP Hassan Fadlallah. Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political aide to Amal leader Nabih Berri, was also present.
Wednesday also saw developments in an ongoing controversy over the extension of military appointments. An Army source told The Daily Star that Defense Minister Samir Moqbel would likely sign in the coming hours a decree extending the term of Brig. Edmond Fadel, director-general of Army Intelligence, for six months. Fadel had been scheduled to retire Friday.
Moqbel’s decision is controversial, as Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has opposed extending the terms of top security officials, many which are due to expire soon.
The term of Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous, head of the Internal Security Forces, expires in June, while Army Commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi is due to retire in September.
Aoun has said the extensions violate the law and demoralize officers, and has dismissed accusations by rivals that his stance is aimed at paving the way for his son-in-law, Brig. Shamel Rukoz, to succeed Kahwagi as head of the army.
Moqbel has argued that he is acting in line with his prerogatives as a defense minister.
MP Salim Salhab, from Aoun’s bloc, told the Central News Agency that he was lobbying against Moqbel’s declaration that he is allowed to postpone the retirements of security officials. Salhab contends that any such action must be made by governmental decree.
“We will then try to convince ministers to oppose such a decree,” he added. “This is our priority, particularly [given the impending] retirement date of the director-general of Army Intelligence.”
Salhab said that Aoun’s Tuesday visit to MP Walid Jumblatt, was part of this effort.
“Coordination with Hezbollah on this issue is ongoing, but we have not received their answer yet, and we do not know how they will respond if the issue is raised,” Salhab said, adding that the FPM had also contacted officials from other parties.
Moqbel discussed the issue of security appointments with Speaker Nabih Berri Wednesday.
“I come to Speaker Nabih Berri to listen to him, [like I do] every time there are critical issues which require decisions, whether for [security] appointments or other issues,” Moqbel said.
“As a defense minister, I behave 100 percent in accordance with the law – everything is clear – [but] there are some whose opinions run counter to mine,” Moqbel added, in reference to Aoun.
Sources familiar with the issue told The Daily Star that Moqbel proposed to Berri that the agenda of an upcoming session includes a draft law he prepared that would raise the retirement age of officers.
Rather than jeopardizing the unity of the Cabinet by having it take on such a bill, 10 MPs could present it directly to Parliament for endorsement.
Passage of such a law would constitute a compromise, as it would raise the retirement age of all officers, including those hoping to succeed the current heads of security services.
MPs who attended Berri’s weekly meeting with lawmakers said the speaker announced that Parliament’s Secretariat would convene on March 24 to set the agenda for a future legislative session.
Berri also called on Parliament’s Joint Committees to continue work on the public sector wage scale bill, which he hopes can be finalized and added to the agenda, and said that he was waiting for the Cabinet to refer the draft budget to Parliament following its presentation by Finance Minister Khalil.
The speaker also stated that Lebanon would stand to gain from a nuclear deal between Iran and the United States.
“An American-Iranian nuclear agreement, if reached, would have important repercussions in the region,” Berri told officials at his Beirut residence Wednesday. “One of the [outcomes] would be the reopening of [diplomatic] channels between Tehran and Riyadh, which would have positive results on Lebanon.