Mashnouq from Dar al-Fatwa: Bassil Sabotaging Balance in Country

Beirut MP and ex-interior minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Friday lashed out at Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, accusing him of “sabotaging balance in the country.”

“This deterioration in the issue of the balance of powers must stop and the issue must be settled by those concerned with it. If we go back to the remarks that were voiced against (Prime Minister Saad) Hariri, (Speaker Nabih) Berri, (Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid) Jumblat, (Lebanese Forces leader Samir) Geagea and others, where would that take the country?” Mashnouq warned after meeting Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan at Dar al-Fatwa.

“There is a ceaseless series of attacks on all political parties by Bassil... and there is an unacceptable insolence that sabotages balance in the country and we won't tolerate its persistence,” Mashnouq added.

“I agreed with Mufti Daryan that the continuation of things in the same manner is not in Lebanon's interest and that it is necessary to reevaluate all the current understandings, settlements or alliances which have only led to further collapse of the political balance in the country,” the former minister went on to say.

Turning to the controversial Military Court ruling in the case of framing the actor Ziad Itani over alleged spying for Israel, Mashnouq said “the days of the Syrian intelligence” in Lebanon “were better.”

“The ruling was issued as a result of the interference of senior leaders and we don't understand how the prosecutor backpedaled on everything he had said in the beginning,” Mashnouq added.

On Thursday, the Military Court acquitted Internal Security Forces Lt. Col. Suzanne al-Hajj and sentenced the hacker Elie Ghabash to a year in prison in the Ziad Itani framing case.

Itani was released in March 2018 after spending 109 days in detention.