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Miqati Meets Tripoli MPs: Army Will Continue its Mission to Restore Calm in City

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Friday that officials are determined to tackle the situation in the northern city of Tripoli “wisely and calmly.”

He said after meeting a delegation of Tripoli MPs: “The army and security forces will continue their mission to halt the unrest, restore calm, and protect its residents.”

“We are responsible for all our sons and brothers, but this should not take place at the expense of the authority of the state,” he declared.

“No one can consider themselves more powerful than that state,” he added.

“Regardless of what happens, the state will remain more powerful than all sides and everyone should abide by the law,” Miqati said.

The Tripoli delegation included MPs Robert Fadel, Samer Saadeh, Mohammed Kabbara, Ahmed Karami, and Samir al-Jisr.

On the investigations in the twin blasts that targeted mosques in Tripoli in August, Miqati remarked: “We will not be lenient in tackling this file.”

“No one is above the law … and we urge the authorities to arrest all who planned, participated in, and executed this cowardly act,” he stated.

Islamic Alawite Council head Sheikh Assad Assi on Thursday stressed that the council will not tolerate the summoning of top Alawite leader Ali Eid for interrogation in the case of the deadly twin blasts.

Arab Democratic Party top official Rifaat Eid, Ali's son, warned that “the ISF Intelligence Bureau crossed red lines when it summoned my father and he will definitely not comply with the request.”

He declared that the accusations against his father are not based on any facts and that they are part of a Saudi Arabian agenda to settle scores with Syria.

Forty-five people were killed and over 800 wounded in the twin bombings that targeted al-Salam and al-Taqwa mosques in Tripoli.

The Arab Democratic Party has denied any involvement in the attacks and stressed that the suspects are not members of the party while slamming media leaks attributed to the ISF Intelligence Bureau.


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