Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri warned against any attempt to undermine the Lebanese Army or dismiss its commander, cautioning that such a move would provoke a firm response, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar reported on Tuesday.
Speaker Berri has also reiterated his opposition to toppling the government despite escalating tensions over the so-called framework agreement between Lebanon and the Israeli enemy.
“Amid escalating political controversy, it became clear that Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri does not want to engage in any confrontation aimed at toppling the government. According to sources, Berri confirmed in undisclosed communications with the Saudi side his commitment not to participate in any attempt to bring down the government through street protests.”
“Prime Minister Nawaf Salam “called me and thanked me for calming the people and getting them off the streets, and told me: ‘I am the one who made the agreement.’ So I told him: ‘Fine, withdraw from this agreement,’” visitors to the Lebanese speaker quoted him as saying, according to Al-Akhbar.
Speaker Berri, meanwhile, warned that the framework agreement won’t pass through the constitutional institutions.
“These people have gotten themselves into a serious matter, and if they think the agreement will pass through the constitutional institutions, they don’t realize they will be facing Nabih Berri and a large parliamentary bloc. In the past, they faced Najah Wakim and Zaher Khatib, but today they will be facing me and a very large number of MPs.”
He reiterated his warning about the danger of internal strife, saying, “Those who drafted this agreement want to ignite strife, but I don’t want it, and I’m pressing to prevent an explosion. Even Hezbollah is working to calm the internal situation, but they are persisting with an agreement that is worse than the May 17 Agreement… They want strife.”
Speaker Berri warned further that “the greatest danger, which portends disaster, lies in any attempt to undermine the army or open a discussion about dismissing its commander, General Rudolph Haykal. If they harm the army or its commander, we will never remain silent.”
Berri believes, according to Al-Akhbar, that this course of action “was designed from the outset to derail the memorandum pf understanding (MoU) between the United States and Iran,” stating, “I am also concerned about the Islamabad track.
He noted that perhaps the region, “and the Iranian track, have entered a difficult phase that may be prolonged, because we are currently witnessing a climate of competition within the American administration between Marco Rubio and JD Vance, a competition that may continue for a long time. I fear that the region will pay the price for the internal American and American-Israeli tensions.”
Source: Al-Akhbar newspaper (translated and edited y Al-Manar)