Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri postponed on Tuesday a cabinet session for 48 hours to allow tensions to ease after two aides of Minister of State for Displaced Affairs Saleh al-Gharib were killed in a shooting on Sunday.
In televised comments, Hariri said the judiciary would take all steps to hold accountable those behind the shooting which Gharib has called an attempted assassination.
“I agreed to head a national unity government, not a national disagreement government. We need 48 hours to clear the air so I decided to postpone the meeting,” Hariri said.
Sunday’s incident spiraled as supporters of Druze leader and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt protested against a planned visit to the Aley area by Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. He ultimately canceled the visit, saying he wanted to avoid any security problem.
Gharib, a Druze politician, is politically aligned with Bassil and backed by Jumblatt’s Druze rival MP Talal Arslan, head of the Lebanese Democratic Party.
The PSP has accused Gharib’s bodyguards of opening fire on the protesters, leading to an exchange of fire in which two Democratic Party supporters were also wounded.
The Supreme Defense Council, which includes the president and security chiefs, held an urgent meeting Monday and took “decisive” measures to restore security to the area and bring to justice those involved.
