Lebanon: LF Leader Says Open to All Solutions to Avoid Disrupting Presidential Elections

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea (Lebanese Forces)
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea (Lebanese Forces)
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Lebanon: LF Leader Says Open to All Solutions to Avoid Disrupting Presidential Elections

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea (Lebanese Forces)
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea (Lebanese Forces)

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea affirmed his openness to all solutions to avoid disrupting the presidential elections, including negotiating with the deputies who did not name anyone in the last session if they had a serious proposal.

He criticized the lawmakers who did not vote for any candidate, accusing them of wasting their votes and helping those who sought to disrupt the elections.

Member of Parliament Michel Moawad received 42 votes in the last parliamentary session to elect a president, including the votes of LF lawmakers and its allies. At the same time, the session saw 55 blank notes and 17 ballots for a "new Lebanon," which were nullified.

Geagea said on Friday during a meeting with students in NDU that if Michel Moawad had obtained 66 votes in the last presidential election session, “then reality would have imposed itself."

He noted that the other party would have no longer been able to disrupt the quorum because it would eventually have to head to elections, given that there is a candidate who received the majority.

Geagea said, during his meeting with the LF students at NDU University after they won student elections, that the 22 MPs can save the country from the vacuum in the next session if they don't waste their votes.

He indicated that there is plenty of time for talks to reach a solution, adding that the party is open to all resolutions and ready to negotiate with a representative if they have a serious proposal.

The 22 MPs can make this vote succeed, and we are waiting for their proposals," Geagea insisted.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah is also pushing for consensus on a presidential candidate.

The member of Hezbollah’s Shura Council, Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, said that the parliament sessions are still taking place without electing a president, asserting that no bloc or party will be able to impose a president, regardless of the foreign support it receives.

Yazbek said the lawmakers must negotiate and agree on a candidate representing the Lebanese and not a president for a particular group.

He asserted that all members of the parliament must agree on a solid figure representing Lebanon, its people, army, and resistance, stating that there is no turning back and the theory of “Lebanon’s strength in its weakness” has ended.



Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 9, Including 2 Children

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Strikes in Gaza Kill 9, Including 2 Children

A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)
A Palestinian boy plays among the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, 04 October 2024. (EPA)

Palestinian medical officials said Israeli strikes in northern and central Gaza early Saturday have killed at least nine people, including two children.

One strike hit a group of people in the northern town of Beit Hanoun, killing at least five people, including two children, according to the Health Ministry’s Ambulance and Emergency service.

Another strike hit a house in the northern part of Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least four people, the Awda hospital said. The strike also left a number of wounded people, it said.

The Israeli military did not have any immediate comment on the strikes, but has long accused Hamas of operating from within civilian areas.

Earlier, the army warned residents in parts of central Gaza to evacuate, saying its forces will soon operate there in response to Palestinian fighters.  

The warnings cover areas along a strategic corridor in central Gaza, which was at the heart of obstacles to a ceasefire deal earlier this summer.  

The military warned Palestinians in areas of Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps, located along the Netzarim corridor, to evacuate to the area the military designated a humanitarian zone, an area called Muwasi along Gaza’s shore.  

It’s unclear how many Palestinians are currently living in this area, parts of which were evacuated previously.  

Israeli forces have repeatedly returned to heavily destroyed areas of Gaza where they had fought earlier battles against Hamas and other fighters since the start of war one year ago.  

The vast majority of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people has been displaced in the war, often multiple times, and hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps.  

Others have remained in their homes despite being ordered to leave, saying nowhere in the isolated coastal territory feels safe.  

At least 41,825 Palestinians have been killed and 96,910 wounded in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, the enclave's health authorities said on Saturday.