Future bloc MP Jamal Jarrah said on Monday that his bloc “will refuse all calls for dialogue if the session aims at [maneuvering against] funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon [STL],” which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
“If the call for dialogue is to implement what was agreed upon during the last dialogue session, then the Future bloc will accept it,” he told the Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio.
Speaker Nabih Berri in an interview with Al-Jumhuriya newspaper published on Monday reiterated his call for a new national dialogue session, “especially amidst the dangerous time that the region is going through.”
The Hezbollah-led March 8 parties – which currently dominate Lebanon’s cabinet – have opposed a clause in the Lebanese annual state budget pertaining to the funding of the UN-backed court, while Mikati has repeatedly voiced Lebanon’s commitment to the tribunal.
Four Hezbollah members have been indicted by the STL in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. However, the Shia group strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.
Lebanon contributes 49 percent of the STL’s annual funding.
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