09/20/2021, 11.01
LEBANON
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Patriarch Raï attacks Hezbollah over Iranian oil imports

In his homily at Sunday Mass, the cardinal criticizes an operation that substitutes Shiite militiamen for the state. The invitation to the new government to address and resolve the "deterioration" of the economy and institutions. We need to fight "smuggling" and begin "reforms" to ensure a future for the country, starting with schools. 

 

 

Beirut (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Obstruction of justice in the investigation of the explosions at the port of Beirut in August 2020, Iranian fuel imported by Hezbollah and the prospects of the new government, were themes touched on durig the Sunday homily of  Maronite Patriarch Beshara Raï.

Addressing the members of the new executive, which could ask today for the confidence of Parliament to accelerate the reform program, the cardinal urged to "work as a unified national team, reflecting the unity of the State.

The government, in full power after more than a year of waiting, must address "the deterioration" of the economy and the institutions themselves, blocking what he calls "incessant attempts" to weaken the nation from the foundations and "damaging the democratic system." "The State - warns the patriarch - cannot progress" if forced to act and exercise its functions "in the midst of positions" that contradict "its entity and its institutions." 

The cardinal attacks those who implement "practices" that "violate" the Constitution and the Taef Agreement (the inter-Lebanese treaty that ended the 1975-1990 civil war), relaunching the principles of "neutrality" and "non-alignment" in regional conflicts. In this sense one can read the harsh criticism on the entry of "tank trucks" loaded with Iranian fuel managed by the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. An operation that, in fact, replaces the Shiite radical militiamen to the legitimate offices of the State called to solve the energy crisis. 

Finally, there is a hint of the ongoing investigation into the double explosion at the port that someone, without naming names, would have an interest in "stopping". 

He also had a message of hope, fueled by "internal, regional and international circumstances" that have allowed, albeit after a long time, the formation of the new executive that will have to "conduct reforms, revive the financial and economic activity, secure the academic year, support the private schools alike the official ones, resolve the fuel and electricity crisis, shut down smuggling crossings on the border, and address the issue of apple refrigerators to avoid its spoilage." 

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