Lebanon continues to come under pressure to postpone the parliamentary elections in May with international powers believing that priority in the country lies in disarming Hezbollah and granting Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s government more time to approve financial, economic and administrative reforms.
Israel also continues to apply pressure on Lebanon as it maintains its attacks against Hezbollah, targeting its members and fighters across the country and delivering a message that it has no choice but to disarm.
Despite the pressure, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri stressed that the elections will be held on time.
In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he said he had conveyed this position to the ambassadors of the quintet committee countries, who want to delay the polls.
“I do not support the postponement or the extension of parliament’s term,” he added.
“I was the first to announce my nomination,” he noted, explaining that he did so to block claims that he wanted to delay the elections and extend the term of parliament.
“This is a message to whom it may concern inside Lebanon and beyond: I am committed to seeing the elections through to the end,” Berri declared, saying he had advised several members of his Amal movement to submit their candidacies.
Moreover, the speaker said the postponement “was not justified.”
The elections will be held on time and according to the current electoral law, he vowed. “Those who want to postpone them should assume responsibility for their position and not blame it on others.”
Commenting on the latest Israeli strikes on Lebanon that targeted the central and northern Bekaa in the east, he described them as a “new war aimed at pressuring the country to surrender to Tel Aviv’s conditions.”
A prominent military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the raids sought to deliver a message to Hezbollah members and fighters that they no longer had a safe place to hide.
Israel can pursue them and assassinate them anywhere, it added.
The success of these attacks means that the Iran-backed party has been breached, something that has been acknowledged by several of its MPs, who have vowed to investigate the issue, it said.
