Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil on Tuesday lamented what he called “a legislative massacre against the electoral law,” after parliament voted to cancel six parliamentary seats for expats stipulated by the 2018 electoral law.

Parliament on Tuesday voted to approve a bill bringing forward the elections date from May to March 27, as it amended the electoral law to cancel the six expat seats as well as megacenters and the magnetic voting card.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has snapped back at Hizullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s remarks in a brief interview with MTV.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday reassured Lebanon’s Christians that his group is not a “threat” to them, as he accused the rival Lebanese Forces party of seeking civil war and warned it that Hizbullah has “100,000 trained and armed fighters.”

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan condemned Monday the Tayyouneh clashes, describing what happened as “disgraceful.”

“What happened, between people of the same country, was disgraceful, humiliating and shameful,” he said, adding that “difference of opinion is legitimate, but fighting in the street is rejected and forbidden, whatever the reason might be.”

Defense Minister Maurice Slim has said that “what happened Thursday in Tayyouneh was not an ambush but rather an unfortunate incident.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has noted that he does not intend to resign and that Cabinet will not convene before a solution is found for the dispute over Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.

Parliament Speaker and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri on Sunday described the seven people killed in the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh violence as “martyrs of truth and justice.”

In a statement marking the Prophet’s Birthday, Berri also remembered the “martyrs of the port” while noting that those killed in Thursday’s clashes were killed by “treacherous snipers.”

Head of the Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad warned Sunday that there will be a price for “the Lebanese Forces’ treachery that committed a massacre on Thursday,” referring to the deadly Tayyouneh clashes.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday expressed sorrow over Thursday’s deadly incidents in the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh area, expressing “warm condolences to the families of the victims” and wishing recovery for the wounded.