Rahhal: Lebanon PM said the right thing about the S-S deal

Environment Minister Mohammad Rahhal , who is a member of the Future Movement, defended on Friday Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s recent statements to the Al-Hayat calling them “the right thing to say’ given Lebanon’s current circumstances and provides “protection for the Syrian-Saudi settlement to overcome the current crisis.”

“All political campaigns that have been launched target this settlement and the Saudi-Syrian initiative,” he said

Commenting on the statement made by Speaker Nabih Berri he said:

“The statements issued by Hariri, who is at the core of ongoing contacts, are the correct ones but we don’t know if House Speaker Nabih Berri has so far been informed of the details of the settlement.”

Hariri told Al-Hayat newspaper that the Saudi-Syrian (S-S) agreement on reducing tension in Lebanon “had been finalized a long time ago,even before the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, (Saudi) King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, traveled to New York for treatment.”

Hariri also said : “ I will not implement any commitment I made before the other party ( read Hezbollah) implements what it said it would commit to and added ‘anything else is an attempt to sabotage the Saudi-Syrian efforts.”

“Hariri’s statements on Hezbollah’s failure to commit to the Saudi-Syrian agreement are accusatory,” Hezbollah Minister Mohammed Fneish said on Friday in response to Lebanon Prime Minister Saad Hariri statements during an interview with al Hayat newspaper.

Similarly Hezbollah ally speaker Nabih Berri also criticized Hariri

“Everyone knows that the current crisis is due to a politicized investigation. The party that is required to do something about this is well-known. It is definitely not the March 8 coalition,” Berri said on Friday in response to Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s statement to Al-Hayat newspaper.

Saudi and Syrian officials have reportedly been working on a compromise that would resolve tensions in Lebanon over the imminent STL indictment . Reports say that the STL may soon indict Hezbollah members in its investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri.