Lebanon: Hezbollah Calls for Election of a President Capable of Leading Dialogue on Arms

Seven successive parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a new president in light of deep divisions among the different political blocs. (Photo: EPA)
Seven successive parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a new president in light of deep divisions among the different political blocs. (Photo: EPA)
TT

Lebanon: Hezbollah Calls for Election of a President Capable of Leading Dialogue on Arms

Seven successive parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a new president in light of deep divisions among the different political blocs. (Photo: EPA)
Seven successive parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a new president in light of deep divisions among the different political blocs. (Photo: EPA)

Lebanon’s Hezbollah party called for holding dialogue over its weapons, and for the election of a president, “who has the ability” to carry out economic rescue efforts and to discuss the country’s defense strategy with the participation of all Lebanese components.

Seven successive parliamentary sessions have failed to elect a new president for the crisis-hit nation, in light of deep divisions among the different political blocs. The tenure of former President Michel Aoun ended on October 31.

The Shiite duo, represented by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement, are pushing for the nomination of Marada Party leader Sleiman Franjieh, who is rejected by Hezbollah’s ally, the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM).

On the other hand, the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party, the Kataeb and a number of independent deputies are voting in favor of MP Michel Moawad.

Amid the sharp divergence between the Shiite duo and the FPM over Franjieh’s nomination, the three parties resorted, over the previous sessions, to cast a blank vote.

Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said on Friday: “If the Resistance is a point of contention, then refer it to dialogue and let us bring in a president, who has the ability to conduct rescue work with the participation of all the Lebanese on the economic file, and who can manage a dialogue session… to discuss the defense strategy…”

Qassem stressed that the election of a president was necessary to address the economic and social crisis.

"The mandatory way for the start of reforms and for saving Lebanon is the election of a president,” he said.

Meanwhile, Moawad met on Friday with British Ambassador Hamish Cowell, with whom he discussed the latest developments.

Moawad’s media office said that the talks with Cowell emphasized the need to respect the constitutional obligations, the first of which is the election of a new head of state and the implementation of reforms to put the country on the path of recovery.”



Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
TT

Lebanon Military Says One Soldier Killed, 18 Hurt in Israeli Strike on Army Center

Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb
Lebanese army soldiers and people stand at the site of an Israeli strike in the town of Baaloul, in the western Bekaa Valley, Lebanon October 19, 2024. REUTERS/Maher Abou Taleb

An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.

It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military, which has said previous strikes on Lebanese troops were accidental and that they are not a target of its campaign against Hezbollah.

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.

“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.

The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where there has been heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack out of the Gaza Strip ignited the war there. Hezbollah has portrayed the attacks as an act of solidarity with the Palestinians and Hamas. Iran supports both armed groups.

Israel has launched retaliatory airstrikes since the rocket fire began, and in September the low-level conflict erupted into all-out war, as Israel launched waves of airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon and killed Hezbollah's top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and several of his top commanders.

Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 20 people and wounding 66, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Hezbollah has continued to fire regular barrages into Israel, forcing people to race for shelters and occasionally killing or wounding them.

Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.

On the Israeli side, about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed by bombardments in northern Israel and in battle following Israel's ground invasion in early October. Around 60,000 Israelis have been displaced from the country's north.

Hezbollah fired barrages of rockets into northern and central Israel on Sunday, some of which were intercepted.

Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service said it was treating two people in the central city of Petah Tikva, a 23-year-old man who was lightly wounded by a blast and a 70-year-old woman suffering from smoke inhalation from a car that caught fire. The first responders said they also treated two women in their 50s who were wounded in northern Israel.

It was unclear whether the injuries and damage were caused by the rockets or interceptors.

The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.

The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Hezbollah fighters and Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.