Report: Cabinet Meeting Pending Qabrshmoun Case

The calls to refer the Qabrshmoun incident to the Judicial Council weighs heavily on the government's possibility of convening in a session anytime soon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Saturday.

The contacts have not yet succeeded in removing the obstacles hindering the Cabinet from meeting, unnamed ministerial sources told the newspaper.

They pointed out that the contacts have intensified between political and official authorities on Friday but the main obstacle they faced was an insistence on referring the Qabrshmoun incident to the Judicial Council. The government is divided over that, said the sources.

“It is impossible for the ministers to convene under these circumstances because this division may lead to a major clash within the government and could lead to a serious crisis,” they said.

“The ordinary judiciary is capable of fully playing its role to unveil the circumstances of the crime,” asserted the sources, adding that "this insistence falls in the context of political investment and attempt of some parties to score political and populist goals.”

The Lebanese Democratic Party of MP Talal Arslan has been demanding the referral of Sunday’s incident in the Aley town of Qabrshmoun to the Judicial Council.

Two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib (of the LDP) were killed Sunday in an armed clash with Progressive Socialist Party supporters in Qabrshmoun. Four other people were wounded.