961 Today

Member of the Strong Republic Bloc, MP Pierre Bou Assi, said in an interview with Radio Free Lebanon that the danger of a new war breaking out in Lebanon still exists, stressing that “the last war proved beyond doubt that the armed party is completely incapable of confrontation, but at the same time it is capable of dragging Lebanon into a new cycle of death and destruction.”

Bou Assi considered that the character of resistance and deterrence had completely fallen from the party, pointing out that what it wants today “is not to protect Lebanon, but to keep its weapons at any cost, and use them at home whenever it wants.”

He added: “Totalitarian regimes are by nature suicidal regimes, and this is what I fear about the party today. It is capable of futile fighting until the last Lebanese, and the dictatorial mind always has the same path: it promises victory, then wishes for defeat, then celebrates an imaginary victory, only to then disappear completely.”

In response to former President General Michel Aoun’s accusation that the Lebanese Forces Party bombed the Republican Palace on October 13, 1990, Bou Assi said, “Michel Aoun’s obsession today is gathering votes for Gebran Bassil,” calling for the submission of only one piece of evidence to prove this accusation.

Regarding the significant increase in school tuition fees, Bou Assi described the situation as “an educational and social catastrophe in every sense of the word,” explaining that schools have the right to make profits that ensure their continuity, “but not by raising tuition fees in a crazy manner that deprives the children of the middle and poor classes of their right to education.”

He concluded by stressing that “our society, which was built on science and knowledge, is threatened to its core if this uncontrolled path continues.”