FPM Sets Conditions to Attend Cabinet Meetings

The Free Patriotic Movement has reportedly set conditions for its participation in the cabinet meetings and demanded the nullification of the term extension of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir and the appointment of a new Army Commander to succeed General Jean Qahwaji, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday.

The alleged demands of the movement show that one way to a solution for Lebanon's political impasse is deadlocked, added the daily.

The Change and Reform bloc has boycotted last week's cabinet session in links to the thorny issue of security and military appointments.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers.

The movement fears that the extension of Kheir's term could pave the way for a new extension of the tenure of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji. Qahwaji's retirement had been postponed in September 2013 and his term was instead extended for two years.

Despite the said conditions set by the FPM, the file of military appointments is going the other direction amid expectations that Moqbel will announce the term extension of Qahwaji in the coming days, reported al-Joumhouria.

An-Nahar daily said that Qahwaji's term will be extended “in the third part of September” after Prime Minister Tammam Salam returns from a trip he kicked off last week to New York.

FPM Ministers Jebran Bassil and Elias Bou Saab met on Thursday with Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi at the Foreign Ministry in an initiative kicked off by the latter to help converge the points of view with regard to the conflicts that led to the boycott, An-Nahar added.

The conferees agreed to stop the escalation in positions to create the best conditions for government action, added the daily.