Amid Strained Ties, Aoun Receives Invitation to Commemoration of ‘Lebanese Forces Martyrs’
President Michel Aoun received caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi, of the Lebanese Forces, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, the National News Agency reported on Friday.
Aoun received from Riachi an invitation on behalf of LF chief Samir Geagea to attend the annual commemoration ceremony of the “Lebanese Resistance martyrs” to be held in Maarab on September 9, NNA said.
Ties have been strained between the Free Patriotic Movement (founded by Aoun) and the LF over ministerial shares in the new government.
They shot sky high on Thursday when FPM chief Jebran Bassil snapped back at Geagea over remarks he made about Aoun's share of seats in the new government.
He accused Geagea of “renouncing” the president's “jurisdiction,” the country's political “norms” and the FPM-LF agreement “while calling this support for the presidency.
Geagea had explained in a TV interview on Wednesday evening that “the FPM has 17 or 18 MPs, while the Strong Lebanon bloc (29 MPs including those of the FPM) is the bloc of the new presidential tenure and accordingly its share includes the FPM's and that of the presidency combined.”
Source: Naharnet
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