Unconfirmed Reports over Aoun, Nasrallah Meeting as Efforts Exerted to Mend Ties

Contradicting reports emerged on Tuesday on whether Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Hizbullah secretary-general sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held talks recently.

Sources close to the two officials denied to al-Akhbar newspaper that the meeting, which allegedly occurred on Monday night, took place.

FPM sources said that the “meeting will occur soon, especially after Aoun and Hizbullah officials stressed on the steady strategic ties” between the two parties.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper, the meeting was held at Nasrallah's residence in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Differences between the FPM on one hand and Hizbullah and Amal began emerging last week over the extension of parliament’s term, which Aoun opposed, and more recently over the extension of Army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji's mandate.

Qahwaji's term ends this September when he turns 60, the maximum age for the post of the army commander.

Al-Liwaa pointed out that Speaker Nabih Berri's adviser caretaker Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil and Nasrallah's political aide Hussein Khalil tried to convince the FPM to attend Tuesday's parliamentary session.

Despite that Aoun said the session was constitutional, he links his blocs attendance to the session's agenda.

Aoun previously said in remarks that the rift is with Berri, not with Nasrallah.

He had noted that the continuous sharp differences among allies force each party to reconsider its options.