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who had won the most votes in repeated unsuccessful presidential election votes, but not enough to win, said he had withdrawn his candidacy in favor of Azour.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



Israel Seeks to Fragment the West Bank as It Has in Gaza

Two Israeli soldiers stand next to a military vehicle during an operation in Jenin, West Bank, March 4, 2025 (Reuters). 
Two Israeli soldiers stand next to a military vehicle during an operation in Jenin, West Bank, March 4, 2025 (Reuters). 
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Israel Seeks to Fragment the West Bank as It Has in Gaza

Two Israeli soldiers stand next to a military vehicle during an operation in Jenin, West Bank, March 4, 2025 (Reuters). 
Two Israeli soldiers stand next to a military vehicle during an operation in Jenin, West Bank, March 4, 2025 (Reuters). 

Palestinian and Israeli sources have confirmed that Israel is making a concerted push to revive the defunct “Village Leagues” project—an initiative from the 1970s that sought to divide Palestinian areas in the West Bank into isolated cantons under Israeli control. The plan, which was fiercely opposed by Palestinians at the time, is now being reintroduced as part of Israel’s post-war vision for Gaza, sources say.

According to these sources, the initiative is being promoted by senior Israeli officials, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also holds a key role in the Defense Ministry and oversees the Civil Administration in the West Bank. Israel is also reportedly lobbying for support from the United States, several European nations, and regional Arab powers.

A former Israeli general involved in administering the occupied territories said the project, much like in 1978 during Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s tenure, enjoys no support among Palestinians today.

“Back then, Palestinians rejected the Village Leagues outright. Some of their leaders were even targeted and assassinated,” the general said. “Ironically, the Israeli right also opposed the initiative—especially when it began morphing into a political movement calling for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. They feared it might pave the way for a Palestinian state and instead pushed for expanding settlements.”

“Settlements were built in large numbers,” he continued. “At the same time, reports of widespread corruption among league leaders surfaced, further undermining their credibility. Eventually, the Israeli government dismantled the project.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has linked his ambitions in Gaza to US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal for “voluntary migration.” In response to American demands for a clear “day after” plan for Gaza, Netanyahu has floated a modern-day version of the Village Leagues concept—though still tied to his insistence on a decisive military victory in Gaza and the West Bank, and a long-term Israeli military presence in the Strip.

Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party has signaled support for this strategy, including plans to establish settlements inside Gaza.

On the ground, Netanyahu and newly appointed Army Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi have already begun implementing a phased plan in Gaza. It includes the seizure of land—particularly in the northern part of the Strip—the forced displacement of as many civilians as possible, and the installation of local strongmen or “warlords” to manage small, isolated zones of governance.

This “Gaza model” is a practical extension of the “cantons plan” first proposed by far-right academic Mordechai Kedar. His blueprint called for the creation of Palestinian mini-emirates or enclaves with limited self-governance across the West Bank, under the overarching security control of Israel to ensure the protection and growth of Israeli settlements.

Asaf David, a leading expert on Israel and Middle East affairs, told Haaretz on Friday that this approach is the real-world application of Trump’s so-called “Deal of the Century.” While that plan paid lip service to a “Palestinian state,” David argues that the current trajectory suggests that a Trump administration would likely not only accept such a scheme—but actively promote it.

Israeli analysts warn that even if the US Congress were to restrain a future Trump administration after the midterm elections, or if a Democratic administration were to take office in four years, and even if Netanyahu’s government were to fall before the scheduled 2026 elections, the changes being made on the ground could be nearly irreversible.