The newspaper "Nidaa al-Watan" wrote: After the looting of public and private funds and bringing the treasury to the brink of bankruptcy, the ruling mafia gang began the process of seizing the special drawing rights from the International Monetary Fund and sharing its spoils under the pretext of "supporting" the people's vital needs. The largest share of the "cheese block" that was cut yesterday at the cabinet table went to the presidency and its current, with a "gift" of 60 million dollars to Electricité du Liban to finance waste in the energy sector "without applying any single reform measure" required by the fund, at least in terms of "activating revenue collection and removing abuses from the network," as expressed by economic sources. Meanwhile, the council's decision related to addressing the repercussions of the financial crisis and its reflections on the public sector ended up as "a play to reconsider some contracts and prices that benefit a number of contractors distributed on a 6-6 basis among the parties and sects, especially the contractors of the Lebanese University and the airport," clarifying that "what is said about re-examining the prices of contracts defined in dollars is nothing but blatant manipulation in favor of certain contractors who deceived to obtain contracts and violated competition rules by cutting prices."
As for the criminal side of its cold mentality, the authority did not hesitate to decide to demolish the silos over the heads of the victims of the August 4 explosion, intensifying the suffering of their families and slaughtering justice, by approving the "demolition of the silos" and assigning the Council for Development and Reconstruction to oversee this operation based on the recommendations of the committee headed by Minister of Justice Henri Khoury, citing the technical report prepared by the "Khatib & Alami" firm in this regard. It is noted that "the report itself does not recommend the necessity of demolishing the silos but rather confirms the possibility of reinforcing them if the government wishes to do so," according to the families of the victims, emphasizing that this decision is actually part of "the authority's plan to obscure the crime scenes while obstructing the judicial investigation and suppressing the truth and identifying the perpetrators and those responsible for the nitrate explosion." In response, the families of the August 4 explosion victims gathered for a protest in front of the port, asserting that the machinery that will begin the demolition of the silos must "pass over their bodies first," according to the words of the mother of one of the firefighter martyrs. William Noun stated on behalf of the families: "We were waiting for the appointment of the judicial formations, but instead, they want to demolish the silos so that people forget this explosion," adding: "It is forbidden to demolish the silos while the indictment decision has not yet been issued; let the investigation proceed, and there are several studies to replace the demolition of the silos with reinforcing them."
Electorally, the ruling majority continues to pump more statements dispelling the growing doubts about its intentions to "cancel" the May 15 polls. President Michel Aoun confirmed at the beginning of the cabinet meeting that "the elections are proceeding on schedule after the additional appropriations were approved," subtly accusing the Ministry of Finance, which is affiliated with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, of delaying the disbursement of the necessary financial appropriations for holding the elections, stating: "The Minister of Finance must expedite the procedures to transfer funds to the relevant ministries, especially the Ministries of Interior and Foreign Affairs."
Simultaneously, "Hezbollah" set a broad title for the electoral battle it is waging against opponents from rival parties and opposition forces, stressing that it is a battle to define "weights and Lebanon's image," as announced by the party's deputy secretary-general Sheikh Naeem Qassem, explaining that "Hezbollah" will work as much as possible to increase the number of its deputies and the deputies of its allies in the new Parliament to extricate Lebanon "from dependence on America" and cut the path for "normalization with Israel." Qassem considered that the March 8 forces face in the elections "a project that intertwines American, Arab, and Western hands and relies on lies and incitement," through forming "a broad alliance whose parties agree on the political option for 'Hezbollah' which reassures allies of its leadership's sincerity," referring to "the Free Patriotic Movement" and "the Marada Movement," while emphasizing that "Hezbollah" does not see any possibility of discussing the presidential entitlement at present, considering it premature, stating: "... After the parliamentary elections, we will see the scene and build our position based on that."
