Relations with Syria Subject to Pending Issues
“We want good relations with Syria, but we cannot ignore unresolved issues, such as Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons and the Lebanese-Syrian border demarcation,” Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra said on Thursday.
In an interview with LBC television, Zahra requested other states to broker a Beirut-Damascus agreement without interfering in Lebanon’s domestic affairs.
In local news, the MP said that his party considers the 16-10-4 cabinet formula, whereby the majority gets 16 seats, the opposition 10 and the president four, to be “a suitable proposal.”
Zahra also said that the new cabinet formation will be delayed, saying that “if there were good intentions, then the government would have been formed by now.”
“President Michel Sleiman should be the guarantee,” he said in reference to the division of cabinet seats and warned against granting the opposition the obstructing-third vote, since such a step would “produce difficulties.”
“The March 14 alliance should act as a majority, and the election results should be respected,” Zahra argued.
He said that the Lebanese Forces will work toward separating the parliament from the cabinet, a reference to those who are MPs and ministers at the same time.