\n\tBEIRUT: Saudi Arabia\u2019s Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari told Lebanese religious figures on Tuesday that the Kingdom \u201ccares for Lebanon\u2019s security, stability, institutions and co-existence between Christians and Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Saudi embassy\u2019s media office said: \u201cThere is no legitimacy for the discourse of strife, nor for one that goes against Lebanon\u2019s Arab identity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis was the first Saudi statement since the bloody clashes in Tayouneh on Oct. 14.<\/p>\n
\n\tAt least seven people were killed in the violence in Beirut amid a protest organized by Hezbollah and its allies against the lead judge probing last year\u2019s blast at the city\u2019s port.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe protestors, gathered by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, demanded the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar from the investigation.<\/p>\n
\n\tAccording to the embassy\u2019s statement, Lebanon\u2019s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian \u201cexpressed his appreciation for the Kingdom, led by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for never abandoning Lebanon and its people, despite the unfair stances against the Kingdom by some Lebanese parties that only represent themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSheikh Derian added that \u201cthe Saudi-Lebanese relations have always been and will remain solid regardless of any offensive speeches because our relations are above these speeches and Saudi Arabia will always see Lebanon as an Arab brotherly country.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe statement comes after the Intelligence Directorate summoned the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, to the Defense Ministry on Wednesday as part of the investigation into the bloodshed in Tayouneh.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe summoning was the motivation for Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi\u2019s spontaneous visits on Tuesday to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun.<\/p>\n
\n\tAl-Rahi denounced \u201cthe summoning of Geagea only by the Intelligence Directorate to testify.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tCharles Jabbour from the Lebanese Forces party told Arab News that \u201cGeagea will not appear at the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThey should start with summoning Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah. All parties should give testimonies, beginning with the party that called for the demonstration. Only when a judge dares to summon Nasrallah, will we be able to talk about a state and a judiciary in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe move to summon Geagea was condemned by several political figures.<\/p>\n
\n\tFormer Premier Saad Hariri refused \u201cto engage in an absurd conflict and the frontlines of a civil war and sectarian divisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe added: \u201cAnnouncing that Dr. Geagea was informed to appear before the Intelligence Directorate via a plastered notification is absurd and leads the country into further division along with using state machinery for revenge politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tFormer Premier Fouad Siniora also denounced \u201cthe bias of the judicial authorities in the military court over the deplorable Tayouneh events and the continuing violations of the constitutions by those who were entrusted with the task of preserving and protecting it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSiniora rejected \u201cthe practices seeking to use the judiciary for reprisals against political opponents, and not for its main mission: To seek the truth and achieve justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tLebanon\u2019s Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat criticized the \u201cselectivity instead of a transparent and just investigation for a comprehensive justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHe said: \u201cAll those who fired shots in the Tayouneh events should be arrested, without discrimination, and this destructive and futile political dispute must be ended.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSamy Gemayel, head of the Lebanese Kataeb Party, announced his rejection to \u201call the means Hezbollah and the Amal Movement have resorted to in hampering the investigation into the Beirut port blast.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tHezbollah accused Geagea of firing the first shot on Oct. 14 at the demonstrators who penetrated the anti-Hezbollah and Christian-majority Ain Remaneh area.<\/p>\n
\n\tFormer Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who is also a defendant in the Beirut port explosion investigation, visited Sheikh Derian on Tuesday, reiterating his demand \u201cto either lift immunity from everyone without exception, or adopt the legal and constitutional mechanisms in force in the Supreme Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSo far, all the politicians who have been accused of being involved in the Beirut port blast have declined to appear before Judge Bitar.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmal Movement and Hezbollah ministers have refused to attend Cabinet sessions unless Judge Bitar is removed and the investigations into Tayouneh are halted, causing a governmental paralysis at a time when Lebanon is in desperate need of reforms to unblock the international aid that would lessen its dire economic situation.<\/p>\n
\n\tPrime Minister Mikati hoped on Tuesday that \u201cCabinet meetings will resume as soon as possible to make the decisions required to activate the work of commissions and committees and do what is needed from the government.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tMikati added that he hoped his government would supervise \u201cthe parliamentary elections with full integrity, to enable these elections to renew the political life in Lebanon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe joint parliamentary committees held a session on Tuesday and voted to keep the electoral law as it was, thus rejecting Aoun\u2019s proposal to make amendments.<\/p>\n
\n\tAoun had objected to holding the elections on March 27 and to the proposals to change the expatriate voting formula by canceling the six seats allocated for Lebanese voters who live abroad.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi Arabia issues calming statement as Lebanese tensions rise over port explosion case BEIRUT: Saudi Arabia\u2019s Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed Bukhari told Lebanese religious figures on Tuesday that the Kingdom \u201ccares for Lebanon\u2019s security, stability, institutions and co-existence between Christians and Muslims.\u201d The Saudi embassy\u2019s media office said: \u201cThere is no legitimacy for the discourse…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}