France is seeking to encourage Iran to help the rival Lebanese politicians strike a deal on a new consensual president over fears that the regional turmoil would harm coexistence in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said.

The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday that the French initiative comes with an American support to fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.

Speaker Nabih Berri has avoided a disagreement with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun over his stance from the extension of parliament's mandate but said that the lawmaker has a valuable opinion on a consensual presidential candidate.

As Safir daily on Tuesday quoted Berri as saying that Aoun is an “added value to the joint strategic choices.”

The March 14 alliance rejects to engage in any dialogue with Hizbullah ahead of the election of a new president, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Sunday.

Sources close to the coalition called on Hizbullah to take positive stances that would encourage all political sides to resume dialogue.

Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel insists on boycotting parliamentary sessions until lawmakers elect a new head of state, holding local parties responsible for the ongoing vacuum at the Baabda Palace and undermining the foreign factor.

“Each side considers itself right,” Gemayel said in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday.

Speaker Nabih Berri is seeking to avoid a crisis with Bkirki over Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's recent criticism of MPs for the extension of their term until June 2017.

Berri is expressing “understanding” at the anger expressed by al-Rahi over the failure to elect a new president and the extension of the legislature's mandate for two years and seven months, according to local dailies published on Wednesday.

Lebanese officials have welcomed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech amid hopes that it would lead to dialogue among the country's rival parties.

“The country needs positive rhetoric more than any other time and this is what I saw in Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's” speech, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat told As Safir daily published on Tuesday.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri condemned on Tuesday calls to defect from the Lebanese army and the incitement of Sunnis to join terrorist groups, and reiterated that the nation would enjoy security only if Hizbullah withdrew from Syria.

“All calls to defect from the army and incite Sunni men in particular to … join armed organizations in Lebanon and abroad are condemned and rejected,” Hariri said in a lengthy statement issued by his press office.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-RAhi renewed on Saturday his call for the election of a new head of state, rejecting to let the Lebanese get used to the vacuum at the Baabda Palace.

“There is no justification for not electing a new president,” al-Rahi said during a meeting at the Maronite Diocese of Saint Maron of Sydney in Australia.

Deputy Speaker Farid Makari expressed doubt on Saturday that the presidential elections would be held in 2014, expecting that lawmakers will link the extension of the parliamentary tenure with the vacuum at the Baabda Palace.

“Extending the term of the parliament is a temporary solution until a new head of state is elected,” Makari said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji recently, media reports said on Thursday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, the meeting tackled the latest developments and highlighted the readiness of the resistance to defend Lebanon's southern, northern and eastern border alongside the army.