Sarkis: Aoun and Hezbollah aim at torpedoing Taif
Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis commented on the first National Christian Forum, which joined leaders of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), Marada, Tashnaq and other Christian figures on Friday.
Sarkis said the conference was attended by parliament hopefuls and “the faces of the past Syrian era, some of whom are still in a relationship with the Syrian regime.”
In an interview with Radio Free Lebanon said that the FPM leader General Michel Aoun was Hezbollah’s “interface,” adding that he believed the two aimed at torpedoing the Taif Agreement, “and this logic harms Christians.”
“The difference between the Lebanese Forces and MP Michel Aoun is a fundamental and ideological disagreement… Aoun gave momentum and strength to Hezbollah through the Memorandum of Understanding,” Sarkis noted.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest speech was entirely different in “tone and content” from previous speeches, Sarkis added.
Yet Sarkis still criticized the Hezbollah’s “progressive expansion at the expense of the Lebanese state,” emphasizing his faith in the President of the Republic and the formation of a government as an entry to a new national phase.
The outgoing minister said President Michel Sleiman’s inaugural speech should serve as the basis of the next government, he continued.
Sarkis, a member of the pro-government Lebanese Forces (LF), said that over the past three years, the size of the party’s representation had become evident in the Engineer Syndicate elections and student union elections, among other elections. The LF’s demand for a minister in the next government was therefore their “natural right,” he added.