NNA – An-Nahar wrote: Amid increasing signs of emptiness and internal political impasse, which are reflected in many aspects of the verbal battles and debates that have escalated recently, there was monitoring of Lebanon’s “presence” at the Riyadh summits of the Saudi-Chinese, Arab-Chinese, and Gulf Cooperation Council yesterday. And whether the agendas of these summits expand its crisis to the extent that it reflects the reality of Lebanon regionally and internationally and the extent of the interest of influential countries in its crisis. Although the prevailing economic nature of the two summits with China and their nature does not allow expecting more than diplomatic references to the Lebanese crisis, what was stated in the Saudi-Chinese joint statement on Lebanon on the one hand and the presence of the caretaker prime minister # Najib Mikati with a ministerial delegation at the Arab-Chinese summit, and his speech Lebanon is in it, and what was mentioned in the GCC statement constituted indications that Lebanon occupied an important position in this prominent event.
Nevertheless, the features of the internal conflicts, which are interacting at a pace in which sectarian, constitutional and political influences are mixed, similar to what has been happening since the cabinet session at the beginning of the week, which left hesitations still interacting without stopping. Although there is no direct link between the sharp dispute that arose following the cabinet session between President Mikati and the “#Free Patriotic Movement,” and the former’s attendance yesterday of the Arab-Chinese summit in Riyadh, there are those who linked the remarkable Aounist push yesterday specifically towards Bkerki through a coordinated movement between The founder of the former main movement # Michel Aoun and his heir in the leadership of the movement, Representative # Gebran Bassil, and their re-launch of positions related to the pact, partnership, and whatnot, with the Aounist team proceeding to escalate the battle with Mikati and his allies who participated in the government session, including “# Hezbollah.” This movement, in the opinion of some concerned observers, constituted an overt attempt to employ the Christian dimension by drawing Bkerki to a renewed negative position regarding the convening of cabinet sessions, thus diminishing the impact of Mikati’s representation of Lebanon yesterday at the Riyadh summit and following it in various internal and external stations. This dimension seemed to prevail in the background of the two visits that Aoun and Bassil made, a few hours apart, to Bkerke, while setting aside the dispute between the Aounist movement and “Hezbollah,” with the Aounist influx to Bkerke, attention and positions were focused on the conflict over the government’s reality in an effort to mitigate the contradictions. Christianity, which soon emerged in a quarrel from a distance between Bassil and the head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, over the file of dialogue.
Lebanon in Riyadh
As for the presence of the Lebanese crisis in the two Riyadh summits, firstly, Saudi Arabia and China affirmed “their keenness to take the necessary measures to preserve Lebanon’s security and stability.” The closing statement of the Saudi-Chinese summit stressed “the importance of carrying out the necessary reforms, dialogue and consultation to ensure that Lebanon overcomes its crisis, in order to avoid it becoming a launching pad for any terrorist acts and incubating terrorist organizations and groups that destabilize the security and stability of the region, or a source or crossing point for drug smuggling.”
Later, President Mikati delivered Lebanon’s speech at the Arab-Chinese summit, and he pointed out that “it is not strange that the eyes of the world are fixed today to follow our meeting because of its implications and meanings. Our Arab world, which possesses many human and natural qualifications, is at the center of the world’s interest, the first of which is 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 rising to an unprecedented level. He said, “Lebanon looks forward to this summit with hope 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 stability, development and global development.”
As for the Gulf Cooperation Council, it affirmed in its closing statement, “The Cooperation Council’s firm positions with the brotherly Lebanese people and its continuous support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security and stability, and for the Lebanese Armed Forces that protect its 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 that it does not become a launching pad for terrorists, drug smuggling, or other criminal activities that threaten the security and stability of the region, stressing the importance of extending the control of the Lebanese government over all Lebanese territories, including Implement the provisions of the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Taif Agreement, in order for it to exercise its full sovereignty, so there will be no weapons except with the approval of the Lebanese government, and there will be no authority other than its authority. The Council called on “all Lebanese parties to respect the constitution and constitutional deadlines, and to work on everything that would achieve the aspirations of the brotherly Lebanese people for stability, progress and prosperity, praising the efforts of Lebanon’s friends and partners in restoring and strengthening confidence and cooperation between Lebanon and the GCC countries, and their support for the role of the Lebanese army and internal security forces.” In preserving Lebanon’s security.
“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 atmosphere regarding the failure of the House of Representatives in nine sessions to elect the President of the Republic, the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, met in Bkerke yesterday with the “leaders” of the movement before noon and followingnoon. He was visited first by the head of the movement, Gebran Bassil, who hurried following the meeting to “hold everyone, Muslims and Christians, responsible for what happened in the Council of Ministers on Monday, which is a terrible matter by deleting the President of the Republic’s signature of the decrees. And he added, “I completed the discussion on the presidential file with Patriarch Al-Rahi, where a way must be found to reach a candidate who obtains two-thirds of the votes, and we are open to everyone, but there are those who are not open and we cannot force him.” He described what was reported regarding the possibility of nominating someone from the “Free Patriotic Movement” for the presidency as: “a story for fun.” And whether he proposes a Christian meeting sponsored by Bkerke and if Geagea accepts to attend the meeting, Bassil said, “Geagea rejects everything.. He does not want to come to Bkerki, nor does he want to start a dialogue.”
Commenting on Bassil’s words regarding the possibility of holding a Christian meeting in Bkerke, Al-Rahi considered: “We have always been advocates of dialogue, and I followed my call for dialogue since 2009, and there is no solution except through dialogue between the parties, either through a bilateral dialogue between me and each team, or through an inclusive dialogue, and the inclusive dialogue is fraught with difficulties.” However, Al-Rahi announced that “what happened in terms of holding the cabinet session should not 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 spoke to the media with a brief speech in which he said: “The circumstance requires that we bid farewell to His Beatitude the Patriarch, the current situation and its many rights that are not inviolable and a violation of the Charter and the Constitution. I will suffice with this amount, as it is obligatory to remain silent regarding permissible speech, because the crisis is great and too much talk does not benefit it.”
On the other hand, the head of the “Lebanese Forces” party, Samir Geagea, hastened to respond to Bassil through his Twitter account, writing, “Dialogue is a Bedouin of dialogue.”
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