2024-08-28 04:07:30
Yesterday, the National Consultative Council, through the “Issues Authority”, failed to reach a decision on the review of the appeal filed by Brigadier General Edgar Lowndes (Catholic), commander of the Lebanese Army’s South Litani district, against the Lebanese government’s decision. Minister Maurice Slim has extended the appointment of Military Council member Major General Pierre Szabo (Catholic) for another year, effective from the date of his retirement in the last week of September next year, after one of the members was unable to attend due to illness , resulting in a reduction in the quorum required for the meeting.
A few hours before the end of the deadline for expressing an opinion on the decision to stop the implementation of the extension, which in principle is considered non-binding, extensive communication took place, with the opening of all legal dictionaries and glossaries, with the aim of informing the Minister of Defense on the basis of Maj. Gen. Saab’s extension was approved by Law No. 317 enacted by the House of Representatives, which allows for this to be extended to the commander of the army and the leaders of all security and military services, but this request has not been met.
In addition, the “National Consultative Council” stands before “Singi Tak” with a series of complexes and factors, the most important of which is the damage caused by the decision to suspend execution, which may lead to the disruption of the role of the Military Council. As the leading agency for all agencies under the Ministry of Defense, it shall be organized by it. In this case, disabling the “Committee” means transferring all its power to the hands of the “Leader”. In our current situation, this measure could lead to a further widening of the already deep differences between the Minister of Defense and the Chief of the Army, and then the “Consultative Conference” would become a source of complication of the crisis, contrary to its original intention on the contrary.
For this reason, and also because the minister’s demand for a “basket” agreement starting from the appointment of the new Army Commander to the appointment of the Chief of Staff and members of the Military Council does not hold water. Disagreement over the status and the limits of its powers, whose conditions are not met, Minister Slim considers necessary, given that there is currently a serious possibility of another extension of the term of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, as well as the vacancy due to the difficult retirement date approaching possibility rather than leaving the military council. Taif Agreement, which makes the above-mentioned “committee” the single source of collective decision-making.
Therefore, the Minister of Defense believes that the appropriate measure to preserve the existing administrative structure is to extend the terms of Major General Pierre Saab and another member, Major General Mohammad Mustafa (Sunni), while others believe that as long as the current The option is to extend the tenure of the Army Commander, but the institutional situation is that the Army Command will remain as it is due to lack of possibility of appointment, so the extension of the post of Army Commander must be applied to officers belonging to the Army Command.
In fact, Major General Saab expected that the National Consultative Council meeting would decide on the appeal filed by Lowndes, and according to information from “Lebanon Debate”, Major General Saab personally submitted a “request for intervention” to the National Consultative Council on Tuesday before the final.
The judicial branch’s involvement in this case stems from the fact that it is directly related to the decision made by the Minister of Defense to postpone the date of Saab’s retirement, so he has the right to review the reversal of the decision.
Technically, depending on the legal source, the request for intervention is usually submitted in a restricted conference room, but if the case is of a preliminary nature, it can be submitted to the Chair of the Shura Council, the Chairman of the Shura Council, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and 3 advisers, That’s what actually happened in the request that was filed, and it’s hard, and so is Lowndes.
It is time for the Security Council to intervene, decide and decide on Lowndes’ request for a stay of execution, and let Brigadier Generals Lowndes and Major General Saab involved, as well as the Ministry of Defense, know what it is about. But what happens is that the escape from the “graduation of the disease” becomes an exemption from making any decisions and making them in a legal way. This relates to an option that the Chairman of the National Consultative Council, Judge Fadi Elias, previously seemed to adopt, namely to “take it slow,” or indeed “buy time,” opening the way to the bazaar in an attempt to find a solution, To make one party crumble in front of the other.
According to the same source, no decision or dismissal has been taken before the date of referral for retirement and no decision has been made, which means one thing, that is, Major General Saab will continue in his position. The decision of the Minister, the full-time members of the Military Council was deferred for one year, and no action was taken by the National Consultative Council.
Two problems arise in this regard. The first one relates to the Employees Act, which does not allow an employee, whoever he is, to stay in his position for even a minute before retiring. Legal sources say that the graduation in this case is related to the new situation in the ministries mentioned in “Taif”, which gives the minister the power to decide on the management of public facilities, as is the case with the Ministry of Defense, which gives him the ability to postpone the release of direct subordinates The rights of officers of the Ministry of Defense agencies, this situation has happened more than once in previous periods.
The second question relates to an earlier question raised by Army Chief General Joseph Aoun, who said he would not allow Major General Saab into his office in Yazeh when he retires at the end of next year. If necessary, he will order the military police to arrest Saab on charges of “robbery the scene” and “impersonating an officer.”
Things remain the same as long as the National Consultative Council does not decide on the request to cease implementation, thereby in part granting Saab the right to continue in his position.
What is certain is that if the army commander carries out his threats, a conflict will definitely go beyond Yazi and be bigger than it, and he will have the power to transfer the conflict and all its details, given that Yazi The new situation in Erze is no longer allowed to continue.
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