Caretaker Minister of Defense Maurice Sleem after his meeting with Patriarch Rahi said: "My visit to Bkerke is to present the general situation in the country and put Patriarch Rahi in the picture of the national defense institutions".
"Retirement is statutory according to the National Defense Law, and the special cases stipulated in the law do not apply to the current entitlement, and it is impossible to skip it, regardless of the justifications", he added.
Sleem stressed that "the change in the leadership of the military authority leads to a broad change at the level of all leaderships, and the extension of the army commander's term is not permitted by the Defense Law".
"I sought with Mikati to fill the vacuum in the Military Council, and the fate of the army leadership depends on the government and the Parliament's actions; I did everything I could within the framework of the Defense Law and my powers", he concluded.