NNA - Zahle MPs on Monday held a press conference during which they disparaged Hezbollah's expansion of its telecommunications network to reach Beqaa's Zahle, asking of President Michel Sleiman and Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to remove the Party's telecom grids in said region.



"Expanding Hezbollah's security network falls within the frame of phone tapping measures which Hezbollah practices to invade the privacy of citizens. We leave this matter for the public opinion to judge," a statement issued in the wake of the press conference said.



As for the reaction of Zahle citizens to this matter, the statement explained that it had been a spontaneous comeback to the deployment of armed Hezbollah men, who were in the company of workers installing the network.



"The residents took to the streets, then the security and army apparatuses duly arrived to the scene -- a thing which prompted Hezbollah to stop its work," the statement read, pledging to disallow Hezbollah's telecom network to pass through the region of Zahleh "which shall ever remain an oasis of Lebanese legitimacy."



In turn, MP Elie Marouni rebuffed allegations that Hezbollah workers had been practicing mere maintenance work.



"Maintenance does not necessitate this huge amount of cables," Marouni proclaimed, pledging anew to protect the privacy of Zahle residents.



"I don't think Zahleh is a street in Israel!" exclaimed Marouni, who also refused to abide by the army-people-resistance formula.



"We have had enough of their [Hezbollah] encroachment. If they wear 'black shirts' we can do the same, but we choose to build our state instead," Marouni concluded.


==============R.H.