Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is willing to lead a ministerial delegation to Syria, Caretaker Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine said.
Sharafeddine said that Mikati has informed the ministers about his willingness to visit Syria during a consultative ministerial meeting and that the date of the visit will be decided on Monday.
Full StoryThe Lebanese Forces urged Tuesday Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to call for an open-ended election session, instead of obstructing the election of a president.
In a statement, the LF told Berri that, as a speaker, he doesn't have the right to interfere in what the opposition is doing.
Full StoryThe opposition has intensified its meetings to pick a presidential candidate from the nominees who enjoy Bkirki’s approval: Joseph Aoun, Jihaz Azour, Ziad Baroud, Neemat Frem and Salah Honein, informed political sources said.
“Azour and Frem are in the lead over the other candidates,” the sources told the PSP’s al-Anbaa news portal in remarks published Tuesday.
Full StoryAn Arab league summit in Saudi Arabia will discuss Friday the Lebanese crisis, media reports said.
"The Lebanese file will be one of the main items on the summit's agenda," a diplomatic source told al-Joumhouria, in remarks published Tuesday.
Full StoryLebanese international lawyer Chibli Mallat is the best presidential candidate to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who says he refuses to endorse a "confrontational" candidate.
"To some Lebanese leaders, the principle of settlement does not exist," Jubmlat said in a televised interview, as he criticized Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Free Patriotic leader Jebran Bassil for "vetoing" certain presidential candidates.
Full StoryQatar has proposed to clear the record of U.S. sanctioned Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil if the latter in return agrees to soften his stance on the presidential nomination of Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun, Nidaa al-Watan newspaper said.
The daily said Monday that Bassil accepted the offer, adding that the Qatari security delegation that visited Lebanon last week, will return to the country after the Arab League meeting in Jeddah.
Full StoryThe foreign threats to impose sanctions on the Lebanese officials who obstruct the presidential vote are what pushed Speaker Nabih Berri to say that “the presidential election should be finalized before June 15 at the latest,” a media report said on Monday.
“There are serious indications about foreign sanctions that are being mulled to be imposed on the obstructors of the presidential vote,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper said.
Full StoryHezbollah is confident of its ability to secure Suleiman Franjieh’s election any voting session that might be held, a media report said.
“It is pressing to neutralize the Aounist Movement’s bloc by offering it guarantees that it will be influential in the coming period,” Annahar newspaper reported.
Full StoryAfter reports and rival parties said the French, Saudi and U.S. stances are no longer in favor of Suleiman Franjieh’s nomination, Ain el-Tineh sources have stressed that “the international stances have not changed regarding the Lebanese presidential settlement.”
“The French have not retreated, the Saudis have not backpedaled and the Americans have not reconsidered their vision,” the sources told al-Jadeed TV.
Full StoryCentral Bank Governor Riad Salameh has decided not to attend the May 16 interrogation session in Paris and is instead planning to retire in Sharjah, UAE, media reports have said.
Salameh fears that he might be detained or banned from traveling if he goes to France, the reports said. Instead, the governor and his legal team will argue that he has not been officially notified of the French interrogation request.
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