Lebanon President Michel Suleiman Tuesday lauded the judicial council’s approval to register the first civil marriage that took place on Lebanese territory.
“This paves the way for a modern civil state and [initiates the separation from] sectarianism,” the National News Agency quoted Suleiman as saying.
On Monday evening , the Lebanese Supreme Council of the Judiciaryapproved the motion to legalize civil marriage, a measure that allows for the consideration of the marital status of Lebanese couples married in the country regardless of their religious affiliation.
The council also announced that there is nothing inhibiting the registration of Kholoud Succariyeh’s marriage to Nidal Darwish, who became the first couple to be wed by way of a civil marriage in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, the head of state also praised Pope Benedict XVI's “brave step and wise decision” after he had announced that he was to resign later in the month.
“The Lebanese are among those who will miss the pope the most,” Suleiman added.
On Monday, the 85-year-old Benedict told a group of cardinals that he will step down on February 28 because his advancing age prevented him from carrying out his duties in a fast-changing world; a decision that made him the first pontiff to resign of his own free will in 700 years.
Elsewhere, Suleiman met with Belgium Speaker André Flahaut in the Baabda Presidential Palace, where they discussed parliamentary cooperation between the two countries.
He also sat down with Lebanese army commander General Jean Kahwaji who denied media reports claiming sharp tools were used to maltreat the bodies of the two Lebanese Armed Forces soldiers who were killed in Arsal.
Two LAF members were killed on February 1st in Arsal when their patrol team pursued a wanted man, Khaled Hmayed. Hmayed’s family and friends surrounded the patrol force and opened fire, killing the two soldiers and injuring six others.
This incident prompted widespread condemnation from political and religious figures, while the army deployed reinforcements to the area and conducted a campaign of arrests.
