Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on Tuesday held former premiers Saad Hariri and Fouad Saniora “responsible for any attempt on his life or any harm he may suffer.”

Lebanese Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani on Tuesday held former premiers Saad Hariri and Fouad Saniora “responsible for any attempt on his life or any harm he may suffer.”

“I will remain Lebanon's Mufti until the end of my mandate or until I am deceased,” Qabbani confirmed during a meeting with a Syndicate of Editors' delegation.

"If they succeeded in the attempt of releasing the Mufti from his duties, the al-Mustaqbal party leaders will be stigmatized,” he added.

“They do not want a strong Mufti”.

Qabbani said that he is entrusted with holding the Higher Islamic Council's elections even if it was boycotted by some provinces.

The Mufti is refusing to hold any meetings at Dar al-Fatwa for considering that the HIC's term has expired.

The Council elects the mufti and organizes the affairs of Dar al-Fatwa, Lebanon’s top Sunni religious authority.

Last year, the Shura Council suspended a call for the elections after 21 HIC members, who are close to ex-Premier Saad Hariri's al-Mustaqbal movement, filed a challenge against Qabbani's invitation to hold the polls.

Differences between them spread when the 21 members extended the term of the council until the end of 2013 despite the objection of Qabbani, who argues that the extension is illegal and the council’s term has expired.

Commenting on the attacks against Dar al-Fatwa clerics Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Ahmed Fakhran, Qabbani urged calm and restraint, stressing that the perpetrators “will not go unpunished".