Lebanon’s Opposition Announces Jihad Azour as its Presidential Candidate

MP Michel Mouawad holds a press conference with opposition lawmakers to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
MP Michel Mouawad holds a press conference with opposition lawmakers to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Lebanon’s Opposition Announces Jihad Azour as its Presidential Candidate

MP Michel Mouawad holds a press conference with opposition lawmakers to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
MP Michel Mouawad holds a press conference with opposition lawmakers to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

The Lebanese opposition announced on Sunday its nomination of former minister Jihad Azour as president. The Free Patriotic Movement also announced its support for Azour’s run.

A meeting of the parties endorsed the nomination of Azour, currently director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund.

Lebanon has had no head of state since President Michel Aoun's term ended at the end of October, deepening institutional paralysis in a country where one of the world's worst economic crises has been festering for years.

The nomination pits Azour against Marada movement leader Suleiman Franjieh, the candidate of the Shiite duo of Hezbollah and Amal, which is headed by parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Franjieh is an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with strong ties to the ruling political establishment in Damascus.

Lawmaker Michel Moawad, who had won the most votes in repeated unsuccessful presidential election votes, but not enough to win, said he had withdrawn his candidacy in favor of Azour.

“After intense contacts, we agreed on Jihad Azour as a centrist and non-provocative figure to any party in the country,” he added.

Opposition deputies said the consensus around Azour could help him garner the 65 votes needed in a secret ballot by lawmakers in the 128-member parliament to assume the post.

The opposition includes the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb and a number of independent lawmakers opposed to Hezbollah and to Franjieh’s nomination. The FPM, which is headed by MP Jebran Bassil, has joined them in opposing Franjieh’s bid.

Azour has not declared his own candidacy, but political sources say he has held discrete meetings with various parties and members of parliament to discuss his chances.

In his Sunday sermon, a few hours before Azour was backed by opposition MPs, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai said he welcomed “any step” towards ending the stalemate over the presidency.

Rai later revealed that he had met with Franjieh and dispatched and envoy to meet with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to break the presidential impasse, reported Al Jadeed television.

Hezbollah officials had accused those delaying Franjieh's nomination of prolonging the crisis and serving the West.

“This new candidate that was announced is for us a candidate for confrontation,” Hezbollah deputy Hassan Fadlallah said on Sunday, without naming Azour.

Washington has warned that the administration was considering sanctions on Lebanese officials for their continued obstruction of the election of a new president and warned the paralysis could only worsen the country's crisis.

Attention will now turn to Berri, who will be under pressure to call parliament to session to hold the elections. The speaker has repeatedly said he would only call the legislature to meet once “serious” candidates are available.

He had recently said he would decide what to do “once the opposition takes a clear stance over its candidate.”

Mowad had called on Berri to call parliament to session “immediately” and for successive elections to be held until a victor is declared.



Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
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Türkiye Says It Believes Kurdish Fighters Will Be Forced Out of All Syrian Territory

Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler takes part in a NATO Defense Ministers' meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2023. (Reuters)

Türkiye believes Syria's new rulers, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive Kurdish YPG fighters from all territory they occupy in northeastern Syria, Defense Minister Yasar Guler said on Sunday.

Türkiye regards the Syrian YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.

The YPG spearheads an alliance, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is backed by the United States and controls territory in northeastern Syria. Since the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, Türkiye and Syrian groups it backs have fought against the SDF, seizing the city of Manbij.

"We believe that the new leadership in Syria and the Syrian National Army, which is an important part of its army, along with the Syrian people, will free all territories occupied by terrorist organizations," Guler said during a visit to Turkish troops on the Syrian border with military commanders.

"We will also take every necessary measure with the same determination until all terrorist elements beyond our borders are cleared," he said in a video released by his ministry.

Ankara has demanded the Syrian Kurdish fighters disband, and has called on Washington to withdraw its support. The US military acknowledged last week it has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, twice as many as it had said previously.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Türkiye would do "whatever it takes" to ensure its security if Syria's new administration was unable to address its concerns.