Aoun Urges Respect for Constitution, Judiciary amid Berri Spat

President Michel Aoun on Friday stressed that state institutions should abide by “the Constitution and the laws,” amid an ongoing row between him and Speaker Nabih Berri over a controversial officers seniority decree.

“My choice is to resort to the Constitution and the laws,” Aoun added in a tweet.

He also urged respect for the judiciary.

The Aoun-Berri spat broke out after the president and the premier signed a decree granting one-year seniority to a number of officers. Berri and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil have insisted that the decree should have also carried the finance minister's signature.

Aoun and his aides have argued that the decree did not require Khalil's signature because it did not entail any “financial burden,” a point Berri and officials close to him have argued against.

Ain el-Tineh sources have meanwhile warned that the decree would tip sectarian balance in favor of Christians in the army's highest echelons.

The officers in question were undergoing their first year of officer training at the Military Academy when Syrian forces ousted Aoun’s military government from Baabda in 1990. They were suspended by the pro-Damascus authorities until 1993 before they resumed their officer training course as second-year cadets.