Hizbullah Appeases Salam after Trash Thrown Near his Residence

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has sent an envoy to inform Prime Minister Tammam Salam that the party is keen on the cabinet and to distance itself from recent riots caused by the waste crisis near his residence in Beirut, sources said Tuesday.

The ministerial sources told al-Mustaqbal daily that a Hizbullah minister visited Salam in Msaitbeh, carrying with him a “personal message” from Nasrallah in which he stressed “the party's keenness on the PM and his role.”

In the message, Nasrallah distanced Hizbullah from chaos when masked men burned trash and threw some of them near Salam's residence, said the sources.

Security sources told the newspaper that the men are members of the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades.

They blocked several roads in Beirut on Monday night, burned trash, threw some of them near Salam's home and stirred disputes with passers-by, said the sources.

Al-Joumhouria newspaper also said that Salam expressed resentment at the incident during an emergency meeting for the waste management ministerial committee that he chaired on Monday.

“Is this a message sent to me? Is there someone who wants to put pressure on me so that I resign because of the waste file?” Salam reportedly asked.

But Hizbullah Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan and Amal Movement Minister Ali Hassan Khalil sought to appease the premier.

The ministers held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads Amal, and Nasrallah to inform Salam that both parties reject such acts, said al-Joumhouria.

The ministers stressed that the men who caused the rioting do not represent any side, it added.