Hezbollah delegation meets Rahi, says Bassil not 'under Hezbollah's umbrella'

A Hezbollah delegation held talks Monday in Bkirki with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“The election of a president is necessary and has the priority over all other matters, that’s why things require more keenness on the election of a president as soon as possible,” Hezbollah official Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed said after the meeting.

Calling for a “real and serious” dialogue among the parliamentary blocs to agree “on a president enjoying a high level of consensus and political and popular legitimacy,” al-Sayyed stressed that the country’s next president should not be “a challenge or confrontation president.”

Asked about the nomination of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, al-Sayyed said Hezbollah has the “best relation with the army commander” that is “still ongoing,” but noted that “the presidential juncture is somewhere else.”

“We do not put a veto on anyone, but our opinion is clear, and the path toward it is consensus and dialogue,” the Hezbollah official added.

As for the relation with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, al-Sayyed said: “The FPM is a major movement and its has its weight.”

Bassil “has never been under Hezbollah’s umbrella and we know how to agree with him and how and when to disagree with him,” the Hezbollah official added.

“We are happy with what has been accomplished regarding the memorandum of understanding with the FPM and we know how to agree with each other,” he said.

Al-Sayyed also said that there is no divergence in opinions between Hezbollah and al-Rahi and that the meeting did not tackle the issue of “neutrality or internationalization.”