Give us president and take 1701, Berri reportedly tells 5-nation group

Hezbollah has recently told the five-nation group for Lebanon and other diplomatic circles, through Speaker Nabih Berri and other officials, that it is “willing to implement Resolution 1701, but not under an authority that would be hostile to it,” diplomatic sources said.

Hezbollah “wants a (Lebanese) authority that would represent a guarantee for it, seeing as it does not want to withdraw from the area south of Litani amid the presence of an authority and a president who would stab it in the back,” the sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper in remarks published Saturday.

“It is demanding political reassurances in return for the implementation of Resolution 1701,” the sources added.

The report coincides with a stance by Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who has said that “the presidency is not a consolation prize, neither at the level of the domestic situation, nor in terms of the strategic equations.”

“The implementation of 1701 has nothing to do with the presidential post in any way whatsoever,” he stressed.