Hajjar criticizes Bassil, Sahili says Syria managed to dodge civil war

The second round of the parliamentary discussion session was resumed at 6 pm on Tuesday following a first round that was adjourned at around 3 pm. Speaker Nabih Berri had adjourned the discussion session after a first round during which MPs held the cabinet accountable. The session was the first in a series of three sessions that will end on Thursday.        

At the beginning of the round, Kataeb MP Fadi Haber attacked the government considering that “it was founded by a coup that followed a period of intimidation and disruption”. He wondered “Is the government capable of demarcating the border with Syria?”      

For his part, MP Mohammad Qabbani said that all parties must engage in a dialogue in order to reach an electoral system that takes into account all denominations and supports equality between Muslims and Christians.         

Qabbani said that the country’s current circumstances and the presence of arms do not allow the adoption of proportionality in elections. “The current government broke the record in corruption”, he said. Qabbani concluded his address by announcing the death of the government.    

In his address, MP Mohammad Hajjar verbally accosted Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui whom he accused of being suspiciously determined to hide telecommunications data from security forces under “flawed and unconvincing” pretexts that show a disregard of the country’s security.

Hajjar added that the government disassociated itself theoretically, but this disassociation quickly turned into the execution of the Syrian regime’s orders. When Hajjar criticized Energy Minister Gibran Bassil, MP Serge Torsarkissian intervened and asked ironically: Where is minister Bassil right now? Is he in a reservoir or something?

As for MP Nawar al-Sahili, he said that Syria managed to dodge a civil war, even at a high cost. “Does intervening in the Syrian internal affairs serve Lebanon’s interest?” he wondered.