Bassil-opposition deal 'unlikely', Hezbollah 'won't agree' to Azour election

Sources close to the Shiite Duo have ruled out a presidential agreement between the opposition and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, seeing as such a deal would come at the expense of the latter’s relation with Hezbollah.

“Should the FPM leader decide to agree with (Lebanese Forces chief Samir) Geagea and his allies over a common candidate, be him Jihad Azour or someone else, that will lead to severing the last fine thread that is still linking him to Hezbollah,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

“Accordingly, there would be a shift to a different political alignment and this is an adventure that Bassil is unlikely to engage in,” the sources added.

Separately, the daily reported that it is impossible for Hezbollah to agree to Azour’s election as president and that “the maximum flexibility that it might show is non-opposition to his appointment as central bank governor.”