This article was originally written in Arabic by Dany Haddad in MTV Website:
Yesterday was an exceptional day at Baabda Palace. Several meetings were prescheduled for the President of the Republic, including with the US Assistant Secretary of State, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Minister of Justice, who witnessed with the President the oath of five new members of the Supreme Judicial Council.
However, the street events turned the scene in Baabda upside down...
President Michel Aoun followed up on what was happening in the street. He made a series of calls with the Ministers of Interior and of Defense and contacted Prime Minister Najib Mikati, with whom he talked about the possibility of holding a Higher Defense Council meeting, but Mikati did not welcome the idea.
President Aoun also held a direct call with Hezbollah leadership, seeking to calm things down.
Baabda Palace sources indicate that President Aoun insists on his position regarding the separation of powers and stresses that changing the judicial investigator is not within the powers of the Cabinet, since it was not the one that appointed him. Rather, the Cabinet's task was limited to referring the crime to the Judicial Council. So, President Aoun will not back down, but he can work out a solution based on rounding corners. The easiest way out for the Presidency is the removal of Judge Tarek Bitar, which is an option no longer ruled out.
According to Baabda sources, President Aoun insists on continuing the investigation into the Beirut explosion crime, and he conveyed this to the US Assistant Secretary of State yesterday. He also stressed that the investigation should be comprehensive of the various aspects of the crime, and in case there is an objection to the course of investigations, it should be directed exclusively to the judicial authorities.
Sources pointed out that some exits are being worked on by the Ministry of Justice, noting that the President had discussed this issue with the Justice Minister Henry Khoury and resumed his communication with him today, as well as with security officials. President Aoun was also keen to meet with the Lebanese Army Commander before his televised message, in order to be briefed about the latest security information.
The President of the Republic knows very well that calling for a Cabinet session is not within his powers. However, his speech yesterday included a hint of that. What is clear is the President's efforts to cool the "hotheads"... Will he succeed and cool them down, or has what was written been written?
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