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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Saniora: Those Accusing Mustaqbal of Armament Trying to Justify Their Own
2012-02-13
[An Nahar] Head of the Mustaqbal
... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri...
parliamentary bloc, ex-PM Fouad Saniora, on Sunday strongly condemned the latest deadly festivities in the northern city of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, stressing that the Mustaqbal Movement rejects "any act that could lead to unrest or a civil strife among the Lebanese, from whichever side it comes."

Hitting back at those accusing Mustaqbal of arming itself, Saniora said "those voicing these remarks are trying to justify their armament and possession of arms," noting that the movement is "against any form of armament" and that it wants the state to be in full control of security in the country.

"The possession of arms must be exclusively limited to the Lebanese state, and when we demand that we are also practicing it ourselves and we call on others to practice it," Saniora told a Mustaqbal delegation at his Sidon office.

A ceasefire was announced on Saturday between the rival Tripoli neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen under the army's sponsorship after fierce festivities that erupted Friday killed and maimed a number of civilians and troops.

The Sunni-majority coastal city has in the past few years been the scene of intense festivities between Sunni supporters of the anti-Syrian opposition and Alawite Moslems loyal to a Hizbullah-led alliance backed by Iran and Syria.

Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
, who is fighting an unprecedented revolt against his regime, hails from the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Also on Saturday, Rifaat Eid, deputy head of the Arab Democratic Party which is politically and militarily in control of Jabal Mohsen, accused Mustaqbal of operating an arms depot in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abi Samra which saw a deadly accidental blast on Friday.

In remarks to An Nahar daily on the seventh anniversary of ex-PM Rafik Hariri's 2005 liquidation and a year after former PM Saad Hariri
Second son of Rafik Hariri, the Leb PM who was assassinated in 2005. He has was prime minister in his own right from 2009 through early 2011. He was born in Riyadh to an Iraqi mother and graduated from Georgetown University. He managed his father's business interests in Riyadh until his father's liquidation. When his father died he inherited a fortune of some $4.1 billion, which won't do him much good if Hizbullah has him bumped off, too.
's government was toppled, Saniora said: "The March 8 experience in power led to a failure after another."

"The experience with the government of Hizbullah says that it succeeded in spreading misery, poverty, confusion, economic regression, political failure and nothing more," he said, adding "the Lebanese want results."

He also accused the Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition of being involved in several scandals such as alleged violations carried out by the energy and telecommunications ministries and the rejection of Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas to sign the transportation allowance decree linked to a recent official wage hike.
Posted by:Fred

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