Lebanese Forces Ministers Walk Out of Cabinet Session Over Explosives File

Ministers from the Lebanese Forces walked out of the cabinet session held in Baabda this Thursday evening due to the non-referral of the explosives file to the Judicial Council.

Industry Minister Joe Issa El-Khoury said: "We withdrew from the session in protest against the failure to refer the explosives file to the Judicial Council. We cannot wait for investigations to continue; the involved party has declared itself. We presented a table of cases referred to the Judicial Council within one or two days of their occurrence, whereas nearly three weeks have passed on this case."

For his part, Justice Minister Adel Nassar objected to the lack of referral but did not walk out of the session, according to Al-Jadeed.

In this context, LBCI reported citing ministerial sources that the cabinet is moving towards making a decision to follow up on the Dahret el-Baidar and Palace explosives files sequentially, in light of progress in verification stages, given its importance, as a prelude to referring it to the Judicial Council.