Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a working meeting with ministers at the Grand Serail this afternoon.
Those who participated in the meeting were: Saadeh Chami, Georges Kallass, Ziad Makari, Hector Hajjar, Abbas el-Hajj Hassan, Ali Hamieh, Abbas el-Halabi, Youssef Khalil, Amine Salam, Bassam Maoulaoui, Georges Bouchikian, Abdallah Bou Habib, Issam Charafeddine, Henry Khoury, Najla el-Riachi and Moustafa Bayram.
However, caretaker Minister of Information Ziad Makari announced that caretaker Minister of Defense Maurice Slim left the ministerial session in anger due to a letter that the Prime Minister had sent to him, asking him to resolve the issue of the next vacancy at the head of the army. Slim left the session exclaiming, “This is shameful!”
Makari also stated that, at the current stage, no final decision has been made regarding the succession of the army’s commander-in-chief.
He also mentioned that Slim and the caretaker Minister of Social Affairs, Hector Hajjar, both left the Grand Serail in a fury, heading towards their cars, but Hajjar rejoined the ministerial meeting a few moments later. Furthermore, caretaker Minister of Justice Henry Khoury joined Slim in his car in an attempt to resolve the dispute, but without any result.