Raad: Hizbullah Welcomes State Authorities Decision to Assume Security in Dahieh 

 MP Mohammed Raad, head of the Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, stressed Sunday that Hizbullah “is the first party to welcome the decision of the state security agencies to assume their security missions in Beirut's southern suburbs.”“In the wake of the Rweiss bombing, state authorities were incapable of performing their role in providing security and stability for our people in Dahieh, so we took some measures that can be described as 'first aid' while waiting for the state to carry out its duties,” Raad noted, on the eve of a security plan that will see a joint force composed of troops from the army and security services take over security at checkpoints set up by Hizbullah after the blasts that hit Bir al-Abed and Rweiss.Raad said an uproar was created over Hizbullah's checkpoints by “instigators” who “want to harm the resistance and its people and who are providing a safe haven for the terrorist Takfiris who sent the booby-trapped car.”“State security services have informed us that they have become ready to assume the missions of preserving security and stability in Dahieh and we are the first party to welcome this and to welcome the security plan, which we hope will lead to the desired results, and we are fully ready to cooperate for the sake of protecting our people and their safety and stability,” the Hizbullah lawmaker added.

Turning to the issue of the cabinet formation process, Raad reiterated Hizbullah's stance that political forces must be represented according to their parliamentary weight.“No cabinet will formed in Lebanon unless it reflects the weights of the political forces that represent the Lebanese people according to their weight in the elected parliament. Don't you want democracy, which involves people being represented in cabinet according to their weight? Don't you want to implement the constitution, whose Article 95 stipulates that sects must be represented in a fair way in government?” Raad went on to say.

He emphasized that “the country can only be ruled through consensus.”