Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati denied accusations that he is arming certain groups in his hometown city of Tripoli, saying he provides the northern city’s residents with education and projects.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Miqati denied accusations that he is arming certain groups in his hometown city of Tripoli, saying he provides the northern city’s residents with education and projects.

In remarks to the local daily As Safir published Friday, Miqati said: “These remarks are totally rejected.”

“I do arm the city’s residents with education and (development) projects,” he told the newspaper.

“My culture will never be the culture of guns. It will be the culture of peace, education and centrism,” Miqati stressed.

Sources close to the premier also wondered how Miqati could contribute to worsening the security situation in Tripoli given that he is the first person to suffer from the incidents that have shaken the city, Naharnet website posted.

On the contrary, he is exerting strong efforts to restore calm in the city and create stability, the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.

Miqati’s denial came after al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat claimed the premier is funding armed groups who have taken part in the latest gun battles in Tripoli, North of Lebanon, that have left several people dead.

In another context, Miqati received on Thursday a phone call from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, voicing her support to the “steps taken by the government and the efforts of the Lebanese army,” the PM’s Office said in a statement.

Clinton praised the “cooperation between Banque Du Liban and the U.S. Treasury”, the statement added, pointing out that discussion also tackled the Lebanese and regional developments.

Miqati stressed the “importance and necessity of cooperation” between the two countries, “especially the continuous logistic support for the Lebanese Army,” the statement read.