Khalil Says Contacts 'Should Lead to Solution' for Qabrshmoun Crisis

Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Sunday sounded an upbeat tone regarding the possibility of resolving the crisis created by the deadly Qabrsmhoun incident.

“There is a possibility to reach an agreement over the Mt. Lebanon incidents,” Khalil said, revealing that “contacts have been resumed in the manner that should lead us to a solution.”

“What’s important to us is the ability to reach a reconciliation in parallel with the judicial and security solutions,” Khalil added.

“The priority on which Speaker Nabih Berri worked from the very first day was to work on three aspects: judiciary, security and politics, whose integration would lead to identifying those responsible” for the bloodshed, the minister went on to say.

Two bodyguards of State Minister for Refugee Affairs Saleh al-Gharib were killed in a clash with Progressive Socialist Party supporters in the Aley town of Qabrshmoun. The minister escaped unharmed as one of his bodyguards and a PSP supporters were injured.

The PSP has handed over a number of suspects to authorities while Gharib’s Lebanese Democratic Party has been reluctant to hand over any wanted men, saying the PSP has failed to surrender all suspects belonging to it.

The LDP has also been insisting on the referral of the case to the Judicial Council, a demand that the PSP and its allies are opposed to.

The parties are reportedly mulling a solution involving the referral of the case to the Military Court.