Bassil: Disagreement with Hezbollah not a secret

Lebanese caretaker Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil stated that the disagreement with Hezbollah over the extension of parliament's term is "not a secret" adding that the Shiite group Hezbollah's involvement in Syria was "affecting its political choices in Lebanon." "We believe that the distraction away from internal matters is forcing them to make wrong internal choices," Bassil said on Thursday. "The choice of backing parliament's extension is bad for Hezbollah and for the country," the Free Patriotic Movement minister added. On Tuesday, the Lebanese Constitutional Council failed to reach a quorum to discuss challenges facing the parliament's term extension, amid reports of a political deal to prevent the body from taking a decision. Discussions over the legality of the term extension began after both President Michel Sleiman and the FPM's Change and Reform bloc submitted an appeal before the Constitutional Council against the parliament's bill. The parliament extended its mandate until November 2014 with a bill that was signed by 97 lawmakers in an attempt to postpone the country's parliamentary elections.