Member of the Future Movement parliamentary bloc MP Issam Araji said that Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s principles have not and will not change, adding that the Lebanese leader’s concerns center around the protection of Lebanon and the safeguarding of the “Taef Accord.”
In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Araji said that the parliamentary elections would be held on time next May.
The deputy praised the statement issued by the government last week concerning Lebanon’s commitment to the dissociation policy.
“The statement issued following last week’s cabinet session, which contributed to Hariri’s withdrawal of his resignation, was reached following an agreement held between the prime minister, the president and the speaker and has produced a positive environment at the economic, political, security and financial levels,” he said.
Araji said that the Future Movement and its leader Hariri are mainly concerned with protecting the country’s stability and safeguarding the “Taef Accrod,” in addition to other achievements that have already realized at the political level.
Although the Lebanese deputy described last week’s ministerial statement as a “triumph,” he nevertheless said that the Future Movement and Prime Minister Hariri were currently monitoring its implementation. “Some guarantees were offered before reaching this statement, and therefore, those guarantees should produce positive outcomes at all levels.”
Commenting on Hariri's statement for Paris Match magazine last week that “Hezbollah’s” weapons could not be used internally, Araji said: “The Prime Minister did not change his positions and is attached to the principles he has always called for. But, what he said lately concerning Hezbollah’s arms was taken in another direction.”
The deputy said: “Did we forget that the party used its weapons during the May 7, 2008 conflict,” adding that Iran is the party that determines the fate of “Hezbollah’s” arms because “the party is ideologically and theologically devoted to the Iranian regime.
