By Xinhua,
Beirut : Lebanon’s newly-elected President Michel Suleiman said Lebanon will not submit to terrorism and that the military and security institutions will not be terrified, local As Safir daily reported Wednesday.
“We did not submit to the Israeli enemy, we will not submit to terrorism as well” because Lebanon is a “struggling country which confronted Israel and succeeded,” Suleiman told his visitors on Tuesday.
Suleiman said the only option available to the Lebanese at the current stage is dialogue “regardless of the problems facing them.”
Suleiman’s remarks came days after the Lebanese army was subjected to two attacks on Saturday — an abortive suicide attempt in the south and an explosion at an army intelligence post in the north.
A suicide bomber, carrying a grenade and wearing an explosive belt, planned to blow himself up at an army checkpoint outside Ainel-Hilweh camp in the southern city of Sidon, an army statement said.
But troops at the position foiled the suicide attempt and killed the man instantly after he refused to stop, the statement said.
Suleiman was elected president on May 25 after six months of presidential vacuum in the country under a deal reached in Doha between the ruling majority and the opposition.
The Doha deal also called for formation of a national unity government, in which the opposition led by Shiite militant group Hezbollah has veto power, after the long-awaited president election, but obstacles are delaying its line-up.
Reports said that the major obstacle facing the government make-up was that various political groups were competing over cabinet seats.