[An Nahar] Lebanese ForcesA Christian political party founded by Bashir Gemayel, who was then bumped off when he was elected president of Leb...
parliamentary bloc urged Hizbullah on Friday to hand over the party members accused of being involved in a bus bombing in Bulgaria and in the Rafik Hariri and Butros Harb cases to concerned authorities.
"This is just another chapter of the harm Hizbullah's military wing is causing to the country's security, economy, and its international relations," a released statement said after the bloc's weekly meeting, demanding the party to disarm and hand over its weaponry to the Lebanese army.
"We call on Hizbullah to follow the lead of other Lebanese parties and convert into a strictly political movement," the statement added.
The LF MPs said: "Hizbullah must act responsibly and stop involving Leb in serious cases".
The Bulgarian government said Tuesday that Hizbullah was behind a kaboom in July that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.
The bombing on a bus carrying Israelis at Burgas Airport on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004, also killed the Bulgarian bus driver and the bomber. Some 30 people were maimed.
The bloc condemned the "exploitation of (Bekaa town of) Arsal's incident for electoral gains", calling on concerned authorities to pursue "a transparent probe" in this case.
The politicians stated: "We demand extending the legal bodies' authority on all Lebanese territories".
"Accusations must be directed towards those involved in the incident only while the rest of the town must remain free of such reputation," the bloc remarked.
Major Pierre Bashaalani and First Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman were killed in festivities in Arsal last Friday as the army was seeking to apprehend a wanted suspect, who was also killed in the unrest.
Following the incident, the army had sealed off all the entrances to Arsal and brought in reinforcements as part of measures aimed at arresting members of an gang that targeted the patrol and killed Bashaalani and Zahraman. The army also erected checkpoints at the entrances of the town to check the identities of passers-by.
The MPs also discussed the situation of refugees fleeing the neighboring war-torn country and coming to Leb, asking the cabinet to reach out to Arab nations and to the international community for help in this regard.
"We condemn critiques against President Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
's statement regarding the deportation of Syrian opposition members back to their country," they expressed, explaining that these activists are "facing torture, jail and murder in Syria".
Suleiman said Thursday there are instructions not to deport any Syrian to his home country in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.