BEIRUT: The Cabinet is seeking to avert any negative repercussions from a possible retaliation by Hezbollah for last week’s Israeli airstrike that killed six party fighters and a senior Iranian general in Syria’s Golan Heights, ministerial sources said Wednesday. The sources added that the government was expected to discuss during its weekly meeting Thursday last Sunday’s Israeli airstrike that targeted a Hezbollah convoy in the Syrian town of Qunaitra and its impact on the internal situation in Lebanon and on the position of the government as a whole.
Although most political parties represented in the Cabinet have condemned the Israeli attack and offered their condolences to Hezbollah officials over the death of the six fighters, with Prime Minister Tammam Salam sending a telegram of condolences to the party command, it is likely that the issue of a possible Hezbollah reprisal will stir a debate among the ministers, the sources said.
While officials wait for full details on the Qunaitra attack, speculation and fears of a possible Hezbollah response and the consequences of such a response, especially if it was carried out from Lebanese territories, are unjustified, they added.
Salam and a number of ministers are in contact with the Hezbollah command through the party’s two ministers, the sources said, adding that the general tendency within the Cabinet was to underline Lebanon’s respect for U.N. Resolution 1701 that ended the Hezbollah-Israeli war in 2006 and affirm the government’s declared disassociation policy toward regional conflicts.
Noting that Salam had managed to avert a Cabinet crisis caused by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s criticism of the government in Bahrain, the sources said: “Available information confirms that the Cabinet will be able to overcome any problem that may arise if Hezbollah’s response to the Israeli strike was imminent and big.”
Seeking to quell tensions with Bahrain over Nasrallah’s remarks about the public protests in the Gulf state, Salam had said the Hezbollah chief’s criticism of the Bahraini government should not negatively affect Lebanese who are working there or in other Gulf countries.
Asked whether the issue would be tackled in the Cabinet, he replied: “We are fixing this issue ... But what has been said doesn’t express the Lebanese government’s position or its politics.”
In a TV interview last week, Nasrallah voiced his strong support of the Bahraini opposition movement, which is largely Shiite, accusing the Manama government of being “tyrannical and oppressive.” He also compared the Bahraini government’s actions to those of the Zionist project, accusing it of naturalizing Sunnis from across the region to change the country’s demographics.
Bahrain and the Arab League have condemned Nasrallah’s remarks and called on the Lebanese government to take a clear stance on the matter.
The ministerial sources cited how the Cabinet, which is exercising the president’s prerogatives while the presidency remains vacant, reached a compromise over the appointment of new ambassadors in Lebanon, whereby all Cabinet members accepted the “nominations” of ambassadors accredited to Lebanon rather than accepting their credentials, because this matter, according to the Constitution, is the president’s sole prerogative.
In fact, a decree has been issued accepting the nominations of envoys representing 13 countries, including Britain, Greece, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
With regard to the government security plan in the Bekaa Valley designed to crack down on drug smuggling, car thefts and kidnappings for ransom, the sources said the Cabinet had already approved the plan, while Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk informed the ministers of the zero hour for its implementation which seems to have been postponed for a few days due to the Qunaitra raid.
However, the security plan is now being carried out and all ministers have welcomed the steps being taken in this respect, the sources said.
They added that Salam was expected to brief the Cabinet on the talks he had Wednesday with Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Movement’s Central Committee, which focused on the situation in the Palestinian camps, particularly Ain al-Hilweh, amid reports that a number of wanted Lebanese were hiding in the camp under the protection of some Palestinian organizations.
The Cabinet agenda includes 59 items pertaining to administrative, financial, energy and telecommunications issues, in addition to the latest developments in ongoing contacts over the 25 soldiers and policemen being held hostage by ISIS and Nusra Front militants on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, the sources said.
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