'It's absurd': Jumblat says he's blackmailed into not extending Aoun's term
Former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has dubbed absurd Hezbollah and FPM chief Jebran Bassil's refusal to extend the term of Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun, ahead of his planned retirement in January.
"For political reasons related to Hezbollah and Bassil, we are being blackmailed again into not extending Aoun's term," Jumblat told LBCI. "This is absurd."
He added that it seems that Hezbollah agrees with Bassil, as Hezbollah is "cornered" and needs a Christian ally and Bassil knows this.
"They have agreed on not extending the army chief's term, and are both imposing conditions," Jumblat said.
Aoun's departure would add another gap to crisis-hit Lebanon's withering and paralyzed institutions. The tiny Mediterranean country has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term ended in October last year, while its government has been running in a limited caretaker capacity. Lebanon has also been without a top spy chief to head its General Security Directorate since March, and without a central bank governor since July.
"The international efforts (to end the presidential crisis) were theoretically promising," Jumblat said. "But in practice they were fruitless."
Jumblat said that Saudi Arabia has abandoned Lebanon as it has reservations about the nomination of Hezbollah's candidate Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh.
"But aren't there candidates other than Franjieh and (former minister and opposition candidate Jihad) Azour?" Jumblat asked, urging Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Bassil to meet and agree on a candidate.
Source: Naharnet
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