Reports: Berri Prohibited Amal Officials from Hitting Back at Aoun

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who was expecting a harsher attack from President Michel Aoun, had asked his officials not to hit back, Amal sources said.

The sources told al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Tuesday, that Berri “prohibited” all officials in his movement from “starting arguments” with the Free Patriotic Movement, in response to Aoun’s speech.

“That’s unless Aoun criticized him in person,” the sources went on to say. In this case, Berri would respond himself, according to the sources.

“The speech came up less than expected, and different from what has been promoted,” Amal sources stated.

Meanwhile, the PSP's al-Anbaa news portal said that the Shiite duo’s circles refrained from commenting on Aoun’s speech, considering that “it is not convenient to respond” because Aoun neither named nor specially targeted the Shiite duo. “Aoun rather critized a corrupt system, in general.”

The duo’s circles also said that the defense strategy and the administrative and financial decentralization that Aoun talked about “do not bother us at all,” adding that they will be “the first to participate in these meetings if they happen."