BEIRUT: Hezbollah's bomb attack against an Israeli patrol in the occupied Shebaa Farms Tuesday will be highly disputed by ministers in Thursday’s session, political sources said before the meeting.
“The country can’t handle anymore adventures,” March 14-aligned Justice Minsiter Ashraf Rifi told reporters before the meeting, in reference to the blast that injured two Israeli soldiers.
Rifi also renewed criticism of Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria, calling it "a historic mistake."
Caretaker Minister of State from the rival March 8 block Mohammad Fneish disagreed.
“Shebaa is occupied land and defending it is a duty,” he said before the meeting.
“If we didn’t want to discuss what happened in Shebaa, then what subject would we discuss?,” asked Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi, saying that Hezbollah’s ministers would definitely refer to the incident.
According to political sources, negotiations with militants who are still holding at least 21 captives from Lebanon’s military and security forces will be another hot issue for the ministers.
Political sources told The Daily Star that ministers affiliated with the non-aligned Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) are set to propose a prisoner-swap deal to free jailed Islamists in exchange for the captives.
"The picture is not yet clear. We don't know what the negotiations will be based on, or what the [PSP] swap deal will entail,” Interior Minsiter Nouhad Machnouk told The Daily Star.
But Machnouk insisted that the proposal would reflect PSP’s “own opinion” which may not be shared by the rest of Cabinet.
“What does a trade-off even mean?,” Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb asked rhetorically. “Let the [militant’s] come up with clear conditions so that we can discuss it becauser we support negotiations in return for the hostages’ release.”
A delegation from the captives families met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and members of the emergency group tasked with following up on their case.
In further controversy, Ministers are also set to debate the construction of Syrian refugee camps outside of Arsal. But ministers insisted that conflicts over the files would remain within Cabinet and would not impact the stability of the caretaker government, political sources said.
Shifting from political controversies, political sources are also expecting disputes over renewing the tender for Sukleen and mobile operators touch and Alfa.
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