Phalange Party Warns of 'Iraqization', Urges 'Competent, Inclusive Cabinet'

The Phalange Party stressed Monday the need for “an urgent political plan” and an “inclusive and competent cabinet” in light of the dangerous “security exposure” in the country that might deteriorate into a state of “Iraqization.”

“The security exposure that threatens to descend into a dangerous Iraqization represents an essential factor that must push us to voluntarily, collectively and consensually endorse an urgent political plan under which an inclusive and competent cabinet would be formed,” the party's political bureau said after its weekly meeting.

The party called for “removing all artificial obstacles preventing its formation.”

“Some preconditions might be okay in normal circumstances, but they become malicious amid an existential situation such as the one Lebanon is currently going through,” the party added.

The conferees urged “national consensus on holding the upcoming constitutional junctures, topped by the election of a president within the constitutional timeframe.”

The party condemned the deadly suicide bombing that rocked the Bekaa town of Hermel on Saturday, reiterating its call for “immunizing national sovereignty and putting an end to the dangerous security deterioration.”

The Phalange Party called for “deploying the army on the border (with Syria) to prevent the crossing of indviduals, weapons and booby-trapped vehicles.”

Commenting on the latest deadly shelling from Syria that targeted border regions in the North and the Bekaa, the party urged authorities to “resort to the Arab and international forums to preserve sovereignty and citizens' security,” stressing the importance of “providing a political cover to the army to that it can perform its defensive duties and repel attacks.”

Separately, the party slammed recent Israeli threats to bomb residential and civilian areas during any future war, describing them as “a violation of (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701 and a blatant breach of the country's sovereignty and its people's safety.”

It urged the U.N. Security Council and influential countries to “seriously address these threats, which are usually a prelude to an aggression against Lebanon.”