MP Siniora boycotts Dar al-Fatwa meeting

Lebanon's opposition Future bloc leader MP Fouad Siniora did not attend Monday’s Dar al-Fatwa emergency meeting after his conditions to include certain points in the meeting’s statement were not met. “Siniora wanted to include certain items in the statement. Among the [points] are [to call on the authorities] to bear their responsibility regarding the Tripoli events and the murder of Sheikh Ahmad Abdel Wahid and his bodyguard [Mohammad Hussein Merheb],” said a source. “He also wanted Dar al-Fatwa to clearly respond to Syria’s [foreign ministry letter] to UN [secretary-general Ban Ki-moon] and to have a clear stance regarding what is happening in Syria,” sources said. Syria's permanent UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari's letter "harmed Lebanon’s stability" and represented a clear attempt by some internal parties to "plunge the country into tension", said Siniora  Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani assigned Sheikh Khaldoun Araimt, secretary-general of the high Islamic religious council in Lebanon, to go to Akkar and spend at least two days in a mission to ease tension in al-Bireh and the neighbouring villages to prevent further violence. Some of the tenets of the mission include asking people to respect the army, maintain public order and refer the crime of the killings to the judiciary. Sheikh Khaldoun Araimt said keeping Akkar immune to central authority was "completley undesirable" and "must be changed". The Dar al-Fatwa's statement urged security forces to work under the supervision of the political authority and control the recent breach of security, mainly the recent incidents in Tripoli and Akkar. dicial council. Three people were killed in street battles in Beirut after army troops shot dead Abdel Wahid and his bodyguard on Sunday when his convoy allegedly failed to stop at a checkpoint in North Lebanon, the scene of deadly clashes linked to the uprising in Syria. The cleric's killing followed a week of intermittent clashes that left 11 people dead in the northern port city of Tripoli between Sunnis hostile to the Syrian regime and Alawites who support Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. Sources also told Arabstoday that reports of prime minister Najib Mikati abruptly leaving the meeting were untrue, saying that he authorised Grand Mufti Sheikh Qabbani to decide on certain issues after agreeing upon the statement. The sources added that Mikati was having an important meeting with the Kuwaiti ambassador in Beirut to discuss the issue of Kuwaiti nationals in Beirut.