Hizbullah officials held a meeting of "frankness" with coalition leader Saad Hariri at the latter's residence on Wednesday in a bid to end a four-month feud that was sparked by the Shiite party's May crackdown on west Beirut. "It was not a meeting of reconciliation …it was a meeting of frankness," Raad told reporters at Hariri's mansion.
"We emphasize on our commitment to what we had agreed on in Doha," Raad said, according to Naharnet. He said a meeting between Hariri and Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah would be held "very soon."
"We are not feuding neighbors. We are brothers … in one house. We can differ, but brotherhood and cordiality persist to bind us and form the atmosphere that we all seek to safeguard our homeland," Raad added. The talks, Raad said, were "very frank and useful."
"We have started direct communication with the aim of consolidating stability and flourishing political life," the Hizbullah official said. According to him, the talks aim at reviving the lost coexistence between the "construction agenda and requirements of the resistance."
In answering a question, Raad said: "I did not speak about reconciliation because we have been reconciled. I spoke of frankness. We need to be frank to each other." "We need to exchange views in an atmosphere of brotherhood and cordiality to consolidate stability," Raad added.
On his part, Hariri declared after meeting the Hizbullah team that Beirut would not remain a hostage of weapons, but should be under state-army control. By meeting the Hizbullah team "we break thick ice," Hariri said.
The meeting was meant to achieve a "disengagement of the popular clash," Hariri said. "We would not issue a certificate of pardon to anybody … history would judge who caused harm to the capital," he added.
"We shoulder the responsibility of safeguarding the second independence … achieved by the March 14 alliance," Hariri stated. "We want the state and the army to be the arbitrators. We don't want Beirut to remain a hostage of factional sedition," Hariri stressed.
