Ambassadors of the Quintet on Lebanon kicked off on Tuesday their meetings with Lebanese officials to tackle the country’s presidential impasse.
They started their series of meetings with parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who described the talks as “helpful and promising.”
Informed sources said the officials agreed on “the need to separate the presidential elections from the war on Gaza, which should lead to a breakthrough in the deadlock.”
Lebanon has been without a president since November 2022 when the term of Michel Aoun ended without the election of a successor. Bickering between the rival political parties has thwarted efforts to elect a new head of state.
Berri’s office said he received Quintet envoys: Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Waleed al-Bukhari, Qatari Ambassador Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman bin Faisal Al Thani, French Ambassador Herve Magro, Egyptian Ambassador Alaa Moussa and US Ambassador Lisa Johnson.
The officials did not release a statement after their meeting, but they did stress agreement between them.
Berri told the press: “The position was united, and the meeting was beneficial and promising.” The Egyptian and French ambassadors echoed his remarks.
Sources from Berri’s parliamentary bloc told Asharq Al-Awsat that the most important takeaway from the meeting was the agreement on the need to hold the presidential elections and keep them separate from the war on Gaza.
They noted that the meeting “unusually” took up a little over an hour and that the talks were “frank and clear”.
The ambassadors are expected to complete their meetings with relevant parties and officials ahead of a visit by French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian to Beirut.
The sources added that the war on Gaza should “motivate the Lebanese parties to successfully hold the elections.”
Talks between the ambassadors and Lebanese officials will focus on the qualities that the president must embody. They will not delve into names of candidates, they went on to say.
Berri had stressed that he was prepared to cooperate with the Quintet as long as the Lebanese reach a consensus, they said.
The sources also refuted claims by some Lebanese officials that Hezbollah was linking the elections to the end of the war on Gaza, noting that party officials openly declared that the conflict and polls were not tied.
