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Nasrallah Snaps Back at Rivals: Hizbullah Continues to Back Aoun Candidacy

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah reiterated that his ally Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun remains a strong candidate for the presidency.

“We will continue to back his candidacy,” Nasrallah, whose remarks were released by the party's press office Wednesday, said at the launching of a new university.

“There is no change in our stance” regarding Aoun, he said.

During a speech last Friday, Nasrallah described Aoun as a “mandatory pathway” for the presidential elections.

Such a statement prompted his rivals to claim that Hizbullah is no longer keen on Aoun’s candidacy.

But the Hizbullah secretary-general reiterated in his speech at the launching of the university on Tuesday that the words “mandatory pathway” do not mean Aoun is no longer a candidate.

“They just want to explain things” as they like, he said about his rivals in the March 14 alliance.

Lebanon has been without a president since May last year when the term of Michel Suleiman ended with MPs unable to find a successor.

Sharp differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances left Baabda Palace vacant over their inability to agree on a consensual candidate.

G.K.

D.A.


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