A mass was held on Sunday in Zahle to mark one year since the death of the president of the Popular Bloc, former Minister and MP Elias Skaff. The mass was headed by Greek Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and All the East Gregorios III Laham, and attended by representatives of the prime minister and the parliament speaker, as well as ministers, deputies, official figures and family members.
Patriarch Laham praised the late official’s love to serve the people of the region; while Mrs. Myriam Skaff rejected any security or logistical excuse to postpone the parliamentary elections.
In turn, the coordinating committee of the Lebanese Forces in Zahle issued a statement whereby it regretted the attempts of Myriam Skaff to exploit any occasion to tarnish the reputation of the Lebanese Forces, noting that a detailed coordination was conducted between representatives of the LF and the Popular Bloc in the presence of security forces in order to ensure the best atmosphere for the mass held for the late MP Elias Skaff as well as the marathon organized by the party in Zahle.
The statement added that the marathon organizers delayed one of the event’s phases an hour and forced thousands of young men and women to wait in order to avoid any misunderstanding or harm to anyone.
“However, Mrs. Skaff went on and launched wrong accusations against the Lebanese Forces in her speech,” the statement read.
Accordingly, the Lebanese Forces in Zahle call on Mrs. Skaff and the Popular Bloc to commit to the truth and abstain from tarnishing it in order to maintain the good image of Zahle.