Report: Hariri to 'Break the Silence', Launch Series of Positions

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri is expected to launch a series of positions during the Ramadan iftar banquets at the Center House, mainly after the fiery statements of Interior Minister Nouahd al-Mashnouq, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Hariri's stances will be the first since Mashnouq declared in a televised interview that Saudi Arabia was behind his nomination of Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. The stance was deeply resented by Hariri according to sources close to the ex-PM.

“Hariri will be frank and open to the Lebanese as he has always been. All the reports claiming that he will launch a new initiative are merely interpretations. Hariri alone decides what to say, when and how,” unnamed sources of al-Mustaqbal told the daily.

“His relations with Saudi Arabia are excellent,” they added.

However, a Mustaqbal official told the newspaper that the Mustaqbal politburo office will convene this week to take some measures and assured that “Mashnouq's statements do not reflect Hariri's point of view.”

On the other hand, An Nahar daily said that the ex-PM flew to Saudi Arabia over the weekend and is expected to be in Beirut this week.

Mashnouq said in statements in a televised interview last week that the decision to nominate Franjieh for the presidency was not Hariri's idea.

He also stated that the visit of Hariri to Damascus in 2009 and his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad happened at the request of Saudi Arabia.

D.A.

M.T.