Mashnouq Says Bassil's Remarks on Berri Require 'Apology to Lebanese'

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Monday urged Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to show “courage” and apologize to the Lebanese people over leaked remarks against Speaker Nabih Berri.

Speaking to reporters after meeting the Speaker in Ain el-Tineh, Mashnouq said Bassil's remarks should be followed by “an apology to the Lebanese.”

Noting that Bassil has already apologized in remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper, Mashnouq said the foreign minister “should not lack the courage” to make a public or televised apology.

“I came here to urge national calm and to remind the Speaker of his national responsibility... We must rise above trivial things and not allow wrong statements made by anyone to cause any tension in the country,” Mashnouq said about his visit to Ain el-Tineh.

“The Speaker has always heeded calls for patience and calm, and I hope all the concerned political forces will continue these efforts, especially that the Speaker has stressed his respect for the Presidency,” the minister added.

Mashnouq's visit comes a day after the spread of a cellphone video shot during a Batroun meeting and leaked to media outlets.

In the video, Bassil says that Berri is “a thug and not a parliament speaker.”

Ties between Berri's AMAL Movement and Bassil's FPM have been historically tense.

The latest spat broke out after the president and the premier signed a decree granting one-year's 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.