NNA - President of the Republic, Michel Sleiman, on Tuesday sternly condemned the suicide bombing that targeted the Southern Suburb of Beirut before noon, stressing that the spate of terrorism must be faced by the Lebanese holding onto coexistence.
"National unity aims to curb the chances of terrorism which must be fought strongly, mercilessly," the President said in remarks made before the consular corps at Baabda palace today.
"The entire world scene has become in a state of division between extremists refusing the other and isolationists. The emergence of these two trends entails the big powers to mull the world system that will run the globe in future," he said. "Globalization has invaded the world. Either we reject it or we get along with it to use sciences for the good of mankind. This is why systems must be reconsidered."
"The Arab labor is still on track. It led to the emergence of violence and extremism and it had many repercussions, among which the terrorist bombing that took place today. Assassinations returned again, and Tripoli is still bleeding," he added.
"These notorious reverberations were accompanied by positive indicators, among which the Iranian nuclear dossier and the referendum on Egypt's Constitution. This is a very important thing that underpins for a political pattern in the countries that prevents them from drifting towards extremism. Geneva II is a good indicator. It is true that solutions won't be reached tomorrow, but the conference will pave the way for the sought solutions," he continued.
"Fighting terrorism and extremism has become an international trend, and we hope that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would succeed in apprehending the real authors and be a lesson for criminals that they cannot count on impunity," he stressed.
On Baabda Declaration, Sleiman recounted the support it had gleaned from many local and international sides, namely the United Nations and the Security Council. He rekindled that the document was necessary to protect all parties including the Resistance.
Tackling the national defense strategy, he maintained that the vision laid bare on the national dialogue table had started to gain credibility after the UN had considered it a discussable document and after it had become realizable as it relied on empowering the army to be the defender of Lebanon, fight terrorism, and control widely spread weapons. "We approved to earmark to the army a 16-billion-dollar project and it is not enough. Now there is the three-billion-dollar Saudi donation. If such support continues, we will spare the Treasury huge amounts."
Furthermore, the President said the main positivity relied in the nearing formation of the government. "The indicators on the Cabinet creation are positive. We hope we go till the end after we brushed away the third veto power notion," he said.
He finally hoped a new President would be elected in compliance with the dates set by the Lebanese Constitution.
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