NNA - Former PM Saad Hariri held Syrian President Bashar Assad responsible for the crimes, big and small, committed in Lebanon, and said in a statement issued Saturday by his media office that it is high time for the state to assume responsibility for the waning security situation in the second capital of Lebanon, Tripoli.


Amid the ongoing "suspicious war" in north Lebanon it was futile to seek ways to solve the cabinet conundrum or even hold parliamentary sessions and call for national dialogue, according to the statement.


"The Syrian regime is waging a filthy war on Tripoli and its residents through its local partners," he said, explaining that what ignited Assad's rage was the work of the Intelligence Branch of the ISF, which recently uncovered the perpetrators of the twin bombs in the northern city.


Hariri also called into memory the assassination of Head of the Intelligence Branch, Martyr Wissam Hassan, upon the unveiling of the of Samaha-Mammlouk terrorist plot.
He pointed an accusing finger at Damascus for striving to drown Tripoli in chaos and illegal arms; all the while the President and Caretaker Premier watch in silence and "bury their heads in the sand" along with security and army leaderships.


Hariri was not impressed by the repetitive but infertile security meetings, warning that from hence forth "we will not stand idle and watch the city burn up in flames."
Unless the state took active and effective steps towards salvaging the northern city, it would be held responsible as a partner in the evil scheme hatched by the Syrian regime and implemented by its intelligence agents in Lebanon, according to the statement.


=============R.Z.