Ibrahim Moussaoui, member of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc. (Credit NNA)
BEIRUT — A Hezbollah MP implicitly Saturday criticized the “shameful” remarks of Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati, who the day before attacked the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and its leader, reminding him that he is under “international sanctions for qualified acts of corruption.”
Here’s what we know:
• “That politicians, parties and political forces argue is common in political life,” wrote Ibrahim Moussaoui, a member of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, on Twitter, “but it is quite shameful that insults and accusations raise unjust US sanctions” against a person. “We reject unjust sanctions against any party in Lebanon,” the MP added, “and we reject their use to attack someone, which undermines the patriotic spirit and corresponds to an acknowledgement of the oppressor in his hateful practices.”
• The sanctions remark came during a sharp exchange of communiqués between the FPM and Mikati’s press office regarding government formation, which the Prime Minister-designate conventionally leads in collaboration with the president, currently Michel Aoun — the FPM founder and Bassil’s father-in-law.
• The party reacted by accusing the Tripoli billionaire of being afraid of sanctions and of owing his fortune to corruption.
• Several countries have imposed sanctions on Hezbollah, which they consider a terrorist organization.