Army chief file put on back burner as extension emerges as likely choice

Calm contacts are taking place away from the spotlight regarding the issue of the army chief post, governmental sources said.

“The issue of avoiding vacuum in the army command will be left to the last 15 minutes,” an informed political source told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Monday.

“Hezbollah has requested patience in order not to strain the relation with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil and in an attempt to keep the issue out of political wrangling and provocation and find a political solution away from political and media pressure,” the source added.

“Extending the army chief’s term is still the most likely option, especially after the emergence of major Christian consensus over it, although the FPM is outside this consensus,” the source said.

Sources meanwhile told the pro-Hezbollah al-Akhbar newspaper that “extension has returned to the lead as a ‘necessity choice,’ especially that there are foreign pressures seeking it, particularly from Washington and Doha, in addition to the general Christian stance supporting the move with a cover from Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.”