Berri meets Aoun, says 'everything is good'

Speaker Nabih Berri met with President Joseph Aoun on Monday at the Baabda Palace.

“With the blessings of the Virgin Mary, everything is good,” Berri told reporters as he left the palace.

Berri later met in Ain el-Tineh with Army Commander General Rodolphe Haykal and, according to Al-Jadeed TV, is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam.

The TV network said the Speaker’s meetings are aimed at “reopening the channels of communication with the president and the premier, especially that Berri is very relieved by the decisions of Friday’s session.”

In remarks to An-Nahar newspaper, Berri had said that he was “relieved by the outcome of the government’s statement” on the army’s plan for weapons monopolization, noting that “the country was spared a major sedition.”

“Our domestic unity remains the basis,” Berri added.

“Israel is still at war, it has not stopped its aggression and it has not committed to the ceasefire agreements, and this is what we said and explained to U.S. envoy Tom Barrack,” the Speaker added.

Cabinet on Friday welcomed the army's weapons monopolization plan and decided to keep its details confidential while asking the army to submit monthly reports on its implementation, after a key session that witnessed a walkout by all five Shiite ministers.

Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Saturday that the “compromise” statement was issued as a result of an agreement between Berri and Aoun.

Information Minister Paul Morcos said that the army “will start implementing the plan, but according to the available resources — there are limited material and human logistical resources” and that the military “has the right of operational discretion.”

He did not specify a new timeline for implementation.

Morcos also said that Israel had not held up its end of the agreement laid out in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire that halted the latest Israel-Hezbollah war in November. Since then, Israeli forces have continued to occupy five strategic hills inside Lebanese territory and to carry out near-daily airstrikes.

“Israel, like Lebanon, has clear obligations” under the agreement, Morcos said. “However, its continued violations constitute evidence of its reneging on these obligations and seriously threaten regional security and stability," he added.