REPORT: Cabinet holds session at Baabda Palace

The cabinet approved on Wednesday the appointment of Fatma Oueidat as a head of Civil Service Council and granted the Rafiq Hariri governmental hospital an advance payment of LBP 20 billion.

The decisions were taken during a cabinet session that was held at the Baabda Presidential Palace under the chairmanship of President Michel Sleiman and in the presence of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and ministers.

During the session, Sleiman said that adding amendments to the draft law pertaining to the series of ranks and salaries referred by the cabinet, contributed to complications, noting that the series is a right that must be protected by all the concerned authorities and officials.

On another note, Sleiman and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq raised the issue of the Lebanese border town of Tfeil, pointing out that there is a project aiming at opening the town’s road in order to help the Lebanese citizens who seek to leave and find refuge elsewhere.

Sleiman called for hastening the implementation of the project in cooperation with the concerned authorities.

The Lebanese border town of Tfeil, which has been historically forgotten within the Syrian territories, has been under siege for two weeks, where residents are trapped and suffer from shortage in basic supplies. Food and medical assistance have not been allowed into the town, and the injured are succumbing to the repercussions of the conflict.

Also in the session, the cabinet is set to discuss an agenda of 27 items, in addition to other urgent matters.

Minister of Telecommunication Boutros Harb said that the municipalities’ revenues of cell phones will be distributed within a month, in a statement he delivered related to the state of the telecommunications in the country.

On the other hand, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said that he delivered a message to the cabinet from the head of the Union Coordinating Committee Hanna Gharib, whereby the latter stressed that the UCC will take escalatory measures after the Easter holidays.

In turn, Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi left the session, and headed to Saudi Arabia to meet with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Rifi said before leaving that the cabinet tasked the ministers of interior and defense with dealing with the issue of the Lebanese citizens trapped in the border town of Tfeil.

Prior to the session, a closed meeting was held between President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Tammam Salam. No details on the meeting were disclosed.


For more details, watch Hoda Chedid's full report in the video above