Aoun Visits Dar al-Fatwa, Stresses Importance of Sunni Community's Role

President Michel Aoun on Saturday visited Dar al-Fatwa in Beirut and met with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan.

“I stressed to His Eminence the importance of the role that the dear Sunni community is playing in preserving Lebanon’s unity and its political diversity, as well as the importance of participation with the rest of Lebanon’s components in national and political life and in the junctures that draw Lebanon’s future,” Aoun told reporters after the meeting.

Asked about ex-PM Saad Hariri’s suspension of his role in politics, the President said: “Certainly we don’t want the Sunni community to withdraw from political action in Lebanon… We don’t want to witness a boycott (of elections), because Lebanon would lose one of its major components and this would threaten the society that we’re used to.”

As for the parliamentary elections, Aoun said all the necessary preparations have been made so that the polls be held on time.

“I don’t see a reason for postponement,” he added.

Aoun also said that his talks with the Mufti tackled “Lebanon’s relations with the brotherly Arab countries.”

“We had identical viewpoints on the need to establish the best and firmest relations with them, and that the priority must remain for preserving civil peace and stability in the country,” the President added.

“There is a current endeavor that we will seek to give the necessary importance so that the ties return like they were and even better,” he said, apparently referring to Lebanon’s response to the Kuwaiti paper.