Cabinet meets, security chief resigns, reax, PM announcing elex

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Exterior of executive council's headquarters 2. Plaque at building's entrance 3. Lebanese President Emile Lahoud entering building 4. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati entering building 5. Various of cabinet meeting presided by Lahoud 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Najib Mikati, Prime Minister "If the honourable parliament does not approve (the mechanism to hold elections within the constitutional deadline), we will be forced to call the electoral bodies a month before May 29th, that is on April 29th, in order to conduct elections on May 29th." 7. Wide of Grand Serail building (government building) 8. Meeting between Mikati and director of General Security Department, Major General Jamil Sayyed 9. Close up of Mikati 10. Close up of Sayyed 11. Sayyed entering press conference room 12. Cameramen 13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Major General Jamil Sayyed, Director of the General Security Department: "I have placed myself at the disposal of the prime minister's office during the international investigation team's works in Lebanon." 14. Exterior of Lebanese Parliament building 11. Set up shot of MP Atef Majdalani 12. Badges with the pictures of Late PM Rafik Hariri and late MP Bassel Fleihan 13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, opposition MP member of Hariri's bloc in Parliament: "We welcome this step (referring to the two top Lebanese security chiefs stepping aside) because it was requested by the fact-finding commission, then the international investigation team, and this step will facilitate the work of the international investigation team. We welcome such step because it lifts the obstacles so that the international team can work fully and freely in order to find the truth about who assassinated (late) Prime Minister Rafik Hariri." 14. Various of people praying at the grave site of Hariri STORYLINE Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Friday that parliamentary elections would be held by May 29, two days before the legislature's mandate expires, a move that meets US and Lebanese opposition demands. Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting led by President Emile Lahoud that approved its policy statement, Mikati said he was sending to parliament a proposed mechanism to hold elections within the constitutional deadline. But he warned that even if parliament did not approve the proposed mechanism, his cabinet would call an election for May 29. It was the first time a government leader in Lebanon gave a fixed date for the elections. Meanwhile, Lebanon's powerful security chief stepped aside on Friday ahead of a UN investigation into the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, a move that could meet a major demand of the anti-Syrian opposition and of the United Nations. Major General Jamil Sayyed, director-general of the Interior Ministry's General Security Department, said he took the decision to put himself "at the disposal" of the prime minister after a new government was put in place and before the UN team was expected to travel to Lebanon. Major General Ali Hajj, commander of Internal Security Forces, also placed himself at Mikati's "disposal", a formula that stops short of outright resigning but means the security chiefs are stepping aside and will have no executive power. The opposition has been demanded the sacking of five security chiefs and the top prosecutor, accusing them of at least negligence in the February 14 assassination in a massive bombing that also killed 20 others. Accusations also involved a cover-up as the opposition blamed the Beirut government and its Syrian backers of involvement in the assassination, charges both governments deny. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2e018d33719830ecc0ef8d9ab296b00c Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork