Maher al-Assad to Franjieh: Presidential file in Nasrallah's hands

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh has sought to “benefit from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s participation” in Jeddah’s Arab Summit by asking him to discuss his presidential nomination with the kingdom’s leadership, a media report said on Friday.

Franjieh made the request in talks with Assad’s powerful brother Maher, who told him to talk to Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah seeing as “the file is in his hands,” Lebanon’s Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported.

According to the daily, Franjieh sought Damascus’ help after he sensed that his presidential chances were declining, especially in light of Maronite “Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s visit to France in early June and the reports that the patriarch will not endorse Franjieh’s nomination.”

Separately, Arab diplomatic sources told Nidaa al-Watan that Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is awaiting Franjieh’s chances to totally diminish in order to support an alternative candidate.

Meanwhile, the opposition’s efforts to agree on a common candidate are yet to reach any result, the daily said.

“Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has voiced reservations over the nominations of ex-MP Salah Honein and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, while the Lebanese Forces has voiced reservations over ex-minister Ziad Baroud,” the newspaper added.