Culture Minister Ghassan Salamé phoned Interior and Municipalities Minister Ahmad Hajjar and asked him to “intervene immediately to halt the works in the archaeological area at Nahr al-Kalb”. The Ministry of Culture – Directorate General of Antiquities said in a statement that “Hajjar moved quickly to take the necessary measures to halt those works”. It stressed that it “did not issue a licence for the construction of the concrete base planned for use …”