March 14 General Secretariat Suspends Weekly Meetings, to Hold Talks 'Away from Spotlight'

The March 14 General Secretariat suspended on Monday its meetings over the delicate security situation in the country and replacing them with “secret” meetings.

According to a statement issued by the general-secretariat the meetings will be suspended “temporarily” and its offices in Ashrafieh will remain open to administrative work.

“The March 14 general secretariat will remain committed to defending its cause and will continue its weekly meetings in secret and in different locations,” the statement said.

Several prominent March 14 politicians and media figures, who oppose Syria's regime and its ally Hizbullah, have been threatened, the state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday.

The report comes less than a fortnight after a car bombing in central Beirut killed eight people including ex-finance minister and member of the March 14 coalition Mohammed Shatah, who is also ex-PM Saad Hariri's adviser, while he was on his way to attend a meeting for the March 14 alliance in the Center House.

Shatah's death on December 27 was the latest in a string of nine high-profile assassinations of Syria critics that began in February 2005 with former prime minister Rafik Hariri's murder.