Daryan Rejects 'Self-Security', Slams 'Some MPs' for Blocking President Election

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan stressed Wednesday that only state institutions can protect the Lebanese against terrorism, not the formation of vigilante groups, as he criticized “some MPs” who are boycotting the presidential vote sessions.

“The regional blaze must prompt us to create an insulating wall through establishing a strong State and supporting the army and the security forces,” said Daryan during his Eid al-Fitr sermon at the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in downtown Beirut.

Citing the latest suicide bombings in the Christian border town of al-Qaa, Daryan added: “A lot of people are lately talking about the Christians' fear for their fate and we all actually have the right to be concerned.”

“The disintegration of state institutions is leaving us all without a protecting umbrella, but it seems that the only ones who do not share us our fear are some of our dear MPs and politicians, who are not keen enough on the country and the State to head to parliament and elect a president in order to restore regularity at state institutions,” the mufti said.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, the Free Patriotic Movement and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, demanding a prior agreement on the identity of the president.

“We must realize that security stability and political understanding would strengthen the net of safety that can preserve the country, and that the confrontation of any impending threat is the responsibility of the State,” Daryan stressed.

“There cannot be self-security in our country or else the law of the jungle will govern us,” he warned.

Daryan also took a swipe at Hizbullah over its involvement in the Syrian conflict, noting that “this interference in the burning neighborhood has brought the fire to us instead of combating it.”

Al-Qaa and the nearby Ras Baalbek are the only two towns with a Christian majority in the predominantly Shiite Hermel region, where Hizbullah holds sway.

The group has sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to bolster President Bashar Assad's forces against rebels and jihadist extremists trying to topple him.

Several deadly bombings have targeted Hizbullah's strongholds in the eastern Bekaa region and Beirut's southern suburbs since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011. Most of the attacks were claimed by extremist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State.

The attacks killed scores of civilians and wounded hundreds.