Beirut, March 23: Future Movement MP Mohammad Kabbara lashed out Tuesday at Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s ally, caretaker Economy Minister and Tripoli MP Mohammad Safadi, whom he accused of seeking to win the approval of Hezbollah to substitute for Mikati as head of the new Cabinet.
Kabbara said Safadi’s campaign against caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri was an attempt to win the approval of the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition to head the new government if Mikati fails to form one.
Safadi accused Hariri Sunday of fueling Sunni-Shiite sectarian tension by attacking Hezbollah’s weapons. He said the attacks were a bid to put pressure on Mikati to refrain from forming a government after the March 8 coalition ousted Hariri.
March 14 parties have accused Hezbollah of intimidating lawmakers to guarantee a parliamentary majority to name Mikati rather than Hariri, after the latter refused to sever Lebanon’s ties with the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the assassination of his father, statesman Rafik Hariri.
“Minister Safadi is speaking only because he feels Prime Minister-designate Mikati is finding difficulties in forming a government, so Safadi is marketing himself to inherit Mikati[’s position],” said the Tripoli MP. “[Safadi is telling March 8] I am here, do not forget about me if Mikati fails.”
Kabbara also accused Mikati of turning against his former allies in March 14. He said the telecoms tycoon succumbed to “Iranian will” after Tehran’s influence in Lebanon has grown greater than Damascus’ influence in the country.
——–Agencies