Hizbullah, Mustaqbal Discuss Security, Cabinet, Call for Continuing Dialogue

Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal movement on Tuesday discussed the latest security developments in Lebanon and the region and called for continuing dialogue to address all issues.

The conferees “discussed the security developments and the work of the cabinet,” said a joint statement issued by the two parties after their 12th dialogue session in Ain al-Tineh.

They “encouraged the continuation of the ongoing dialogues among all parties to address all issues,” the statement added.

Hizbullah's ally the Free Patriotic Movement and Mustaqbal's ally the Lebanese Forces are currently engaged in separate bilateral talks that are focused on the presidential vacuum and the affairs of Christians in Lebanon.

The eleventh Hizbullah-Mustaqbal dialogue session was held on May 4. Talks between the two rivals kicked off on December 21 and had recently faced the threat of collapse due to a war of words over the Yemeni conflict.

Earlier on Tuesday, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc cautioned that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest remarks on the town of Arsal would only fuel “sectarianism.”

“What's more dangerous in Sayyed Nasrallah's remarks is his declaration that he will directly confront the region of Arsal and its outskirts if the army does not do so,” the bloc added.

On Saturday, Nasrallah declared that Hizbullah and the Syrian army made major advances in the battle for Syria's Qalamoun region, which borders Lebanon, but warned that “there would be no absolute security (in the Bekaa and Lebanon) as long as the armed groups are present in the outskirts of Arsal and the remaining part of Qalamoun's outskirts.”

“If the Lebanese state accepts the occupation of its territories and approves that armed groups attack its army … then the Lebanese people will not accept that. The people will assume their responsibilities if the state fails to act,” he stressed.

But al-Mustaqbal slammed his statements as “dangerous” on Tuesday, warning that they would only “fan the flames of sectarian conflicts and push things to further complications.”

Y.R.