Hizbullah Unlikely to Mediate between Aoun and Berri
Betting on a Hizbullah mediation between its two allies Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun does not seem to be based on firm facts, a media report said on Sunday.
“Successive statements by Hizbullah MPs and officials indicated that the party is still ruling out imminent solutions, amid continued silence by the party over ex-PM Saad Hariri's initiative and avoidance to take any clear stance on it,” An Nahar newspaper said.
Hizbullah MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi had recently called on Aoun and Berri to start bilateral dialogue between them, without mentioning any mediation.
MP Ali Fayyad for his part called on all parties to “return to dialogue,” while noting that “there won't be political breakthroughs anytime soon.”
Relations between Aoun and Berri have always been tense and media reports have said that the speaker will not endorse the FPM founder for the presidency unless he is offered guarantees related to several important ministerial portfolios.
Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has finally decided to endorse Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
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