International powers 'support stability in Lebanon'

Lebanon's opposition March 14 coalition meeting A delegation representing Lebanon's opposition March 14 camp has arrived in Paris last Tuesday, where they have been holding talks with French diplomats on the political situation in Lebanon after the assassination of the head of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau, General Wissam al-Hassan, sources within the Lebanese opposition told Arabstoday.
In an interview with a Lebanese radio on Tuesday, the March 14 Member of Parliament Marwan Hamadeh said that the opposition representatives also met officials from the United States and European Union countries.
Hamadeh noted in the interview that the international position on the current government led by Najib Mikati "shifted".
He explained that international powers had at first expressed support to Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government, as voiced by the ambassadors to Lebanon of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday.
"This position has now changed to supporting stability in Lebanon, not the government," said Hamadeh.
"This means that the international community will not stand in the way of any change that will ensure stability," he stressed.
Furthermore, he revealed that the March 14 camp has been and will continue to carry out meetings with various diplomatic powers to about this issue.
The five ambassadors held talks with President Michel Suleiman on Saturday in the wake of Hassan's assassination.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who was in Beirut on Tuesday, voiced the EU's support to Lebanon and its people.
"I welcome the efforts undertaken to maintain stability throughout the national dialogue and encourage all political leaders to work towards constructive solutions to the main challenges Lebanon faces today," she said at the end of her visit during which she held talks with Suleiman, Miqati, Speaker Nabih Berri, Saniora, and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.
Hamadeh has also played down the importance of the criticism directed by Speaker Nabih Berri at the March 14 camp on Wednesday.
Berri lashed out at the March 14 alliance, pointing out that it acquired all the "flaws" of the March 8 camp and added to it its own "dreadful behaviour".
He stressed that the March 14 alliance's "manoeuvres" led to a dead-end as its decision to boycott parliamentary sessions will not frustrate the efforts exerted by Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his government to go on with their tasks.
"This road will not lead anywhere and doesn't benefit the country in anything," lawmakers quoted the speaker as saying in comments published in Lebanese newspapers.
Meanwhile, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat renewed his rejection of "political vacuum" in Lebanon in the wake of the March 14-led opposition's demands for the resignation of the government and the formation of a national one, reported the Lebanese daily An-Nahar on Wednesday.
He told the daily: "I support the establishment of a new government if the conditions for it are available."
"Demanding the formation of a new cabinet without providing the necessary local and regional cover would be dangerous," he added.
Moreover, he noted that the rejection of dialogue before toppling the government is a position that needs to be reconsidered.
"Such a step does not show political wisdom," noticed the MP in reference to the opposition's declaration that it will no longer take part in the national dialogue in light of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam Al-Hassan on Friday.