Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Friday telephoned Prime Minister Saad Hariri, asking him to call for a cabinet session as soon as possible. The call came on the basis that the government as a whole is the authority tasked with discussing solutions to political and security disputes in the country. The Lebanese government has been paralyzed since last month following the deaths of two young men in the village of Qabr Shmoun in Mount Lebanon’s Aley district. The two aides to Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib were killed in a shooting on June 30 when his convoy passed through the village, an incident that the Lebanese Democratic Party member declared an assassination attempt by his rivals. Efforts to mediate a way out of the standoff are deadlocked over which court should hear the case. LDP leader Talal Arslan has called for referring it to the Judicial Council, a specialized court that handles highly sensitive security issues. Informed sources told LBCI TV on Friday that Aoun made his phone call to Hariri after all initiatives and proposed solutions to end the stalemate over the Qabr Shmoun shooting have failed. They said the presidential call is based on item 12 of Article 53 of the Lebanese Constitution. The sources said that Hariri promised to hold a cabinet session early next week. But commenting on the president’s initiative, a government source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “Hariri knows well his constitutional powers. The PM has already sent direct and indirect messages to concerned parties about the need to hold a cabinet session and to end the dispute.” The insistence of some parties to link the fate of the government with the Qabr Shmoun incident, in addition to the escalatory rhetoric of the past weeks, have been pushing the PM to take a decision that prioritizes the national interest, they added.