by aawsat.com — The anti-Iran Lebanese Saydet el-Jabal gathering announced on Friday that it was again barred from holding its annual conference. Two weeks ago, it accused the Hezbollah party of preventing it from meeting at Beirut’s Bristol hotel. It attempted to hold its meeting at the Gefinor Rotana hotel, but the hotel management refused to host the event, revealed former MP Fares Souaid during a press conference at the Press Syndicate. The gathering includes members of the former March 14 camp and was set to discuss ending Iranian hegemony in Lebanon. Al-Jadeed television reported that Hezbollah’s Liaison and Coordination Officer Wafiq Safa had contacted the station to inform them that he had requested that the Bristol hotel management cancel their reservation because he had allegedly invited the gathering to a meeting in Beirut’s southern suburbs. “We interpreted this claim of responsibility as a security warning,” added Souaid. “We had previously announced that we are witnessing a phase in which political freedoms and freedom of expression are being oppressed,” he continued. On October 10, the gathering had held a meeting, with a number of political and civil society groups, at the Kataeb party headquarters in support of freedoms in Lebanon.

The Saydet el-Jabal conference was rescheduled for October 14 at the Rotana hotel, but the management contacted the gathering on Thursday to say that the reservation was canceled. Souaid reiterated accusations that Lebanon’s freedoms were being suppressed by Iranian hegemony against the country. “The entire political class has succumbed to the hidden authority that is managed by Hezbollah, which is trying through direct and indirect means to eliminate all who object to Iranian tutelage,” he continued. He also accused the entire political class of yielding to this authority, “making it a partner in the crime of silencing liberties.” “Faced with this reality, we vow to wage the battle of lifting Iranian hegemony off Lebanon,” he pledged. Addressing the Lebanese people, he declared: “A Lebanese state capable of resolving your problems cannot be established as long as Hezbollah continues to usurp national decision-making powers through its illegal weapons.”