Report: Suleiman Awaits French Sign on Hollande's Saudi Talks

President Michel Suleiman is awaiting a sign from Paris on the results of French President Francois Hollande's talks with Saudi King Abdullah on the Lebanese crisis, sources close to Baabda Palace said Tuesday.

The sources told An Nahar daily however that Suleiman is hinging on the possibility of finding a solution to the cabinet crisis at the national dialogue table by agreeing on the formation of a new government and avoiding a vacuum.

The president will continue his consultations with the country's political parties calmly to find a political consensus ahead of the national dialogue session that is scheduled to be held on November 29, they said.

Suleiman neither has a magic wand nor is ready to call for the resignation of the cabinet which has a constitutional framework, they said.

The formation of a new government comes only through parliamentary consultations which would currently lead to the establishment of a cabinet similar to the current one, the sources told An Nahar.

Despite claims by the sources that Suleiman was awaiting a French sign, high-ranking March 14 opposition alliance sources told the newspaper that the talks between Hollande and Abdullah in the presence of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday did not focus on the national dialogue or the formation of a unity government.

The talks dealt directly with ways to change the cabinet of Premier Najib Miqati, they said.

Lebanon's political crisis worsened last month after the opposition blamed the government for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Wissam al-Hasan.

It demanded the formation of a neutral salvation government as the only way to defuse the tension caused by al-Hasan's killing in a car bomb blast in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district on October 19.

The March 14 alliance's major political figures have also said there can be no national dialogue before the government resigns.