Lebanon’s Kataeb Party says its three MPs resigning from parliament

Members of the Kataeb Party salute the coffin of the party’s Secretary-General Nazar Najarian, who was killed by Tuesday’s explosion, during his funeral procession in Beirut on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2020. (AP)

• ‘The Kataeb MPs have decided ... to move to confrontation for the sake of a free, sovereign, independent Lebanon’

DUBAI: Lebanon’s Kataeb Party, a Christian group which opposes the government backed by the Iran-backed Hezbollah, announced on Saturday the resignation of its three lawmakers from parliament.
The decision was announced by party chief Samy Gemayel during the funeral of a leading member of the group who died in the catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on Tuesday, which destroyed parts of the Lebanese capital.
“The Kataeb MPs have decided ... to move to confrontation for the sake of a free, sovereign, independent Lebanon,” he said. “I invite all honorable (lawmakers) to resign so that the people can decide who will govern them, without anybody imposing anything to them.”
Hezbollah, the only group which has kept its weapons since Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, and its allies hold a majority in the current 128-seat parliament, elected in 2018.