Saqr: Hizbullah's Deadline is Aimed at Intimidation, It's a Message to Those Sponsoring Settlement

Lebanon First MP Oqab Saqr called on the Hizbullah leadership to immediately retract MP Mohammad Raad's recent statements in which he set a deadline for the Saudi-Syrian initiative to yield its results.

Saqr told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat Sunday that such statements "harm the ongoing Lebanese settlement aimed at protecting Lebanon's security."

"The party's threat to resort to arms gives Hizbullah a militia trait that is rejected in principle," the MP continued.

"Setting a three to four-day deadline is direct intimidation aimed at the Cabinet session in order to force some sides, such as President Michel Suleiman and PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat, to take a position that coincides with those of Hizbullah on the false witnesses file," Saqr said.

"The deadline is also a message to the Arab, regional, and international sponsors of a Lebanese settlement that Hizbullah is ready to" alter the situation in Lebanon, he added.

This step goes beyond being a political maneuver, but it is also gambling with the fate of the entire country, he stressed.