The agreement between Riyadh and Tehran remains the most significant event concerning Lebanon and the world, with a series of welcoming stances concerning this rapprochement, suggesting it could positively impact most of the region's and the world's tense issues. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed that the relief expected from this path should positively reflect on the entire region, including Lebanon. Before his trip to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis on Wednesday, Mikati visited Bkerke on Monday morning to meet with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai, who commented yesterday during the Sunday sermon on the Saudi-Iranian agreement saying: "We bless this step which falls within the framework of political reconciliation. We hope and wish for this to occur in Lebanon, leading to the restoration of its natural identity, namely its neutrality and distancing from external conflicts, so that it may focus on defending common Arab issues, the rights of peoples, justice, and peace."
Regarding the presidency, Rai stated: "The crime that the nation’s representatives are committing is the failure to elect a president due to vetoes against certain candidates proposed." He questioned: "From where does the veto right come? From where comes the right to impose a person? If you want dialogue, come with detachment and discuss the country’s needs today, internally and externally, and vote daily as required by the constitution to elect the best president under the current circumstances." He added: "The real crime they are committing is impoverishing the people day by day, killing them through hunger, disease, deprivation, suicide, and humiliation, and pushing them towards emigration. The crime is dismantling the state and its constitutional institutions and public administrations, alongside neglect and waste of state revenues in administrations, ports, airports, and smuggling points. Of course, in the minds of all those responsible for these conditions, there is no sense of sin or acknowledgment of it or a pang of conscience."
Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naeem Qassem tweeted: "The return of Iranian-Saudi relations is an important turning point for the region's stability and security and its advancement; it opens new experiences for their peoples and the peoples of the region, and it is a painful blow to the American-Israeli project, causing it to stagger even more."
In sports, the spirit of sportsmanship was completely absent in the final match of the Lebanese football championship between Al-Ahed and Al-Ansar teams, with the Jounieh municipal stadium witnessing acts of breaking and vandalism, as clashes broke out with security forces due to mistakes made by the referee during the match according to Al-Ansar club administration.
Financially, the dollar has risen again, surpassing 92,000 Lebanese pounds yesterday, accompanied by alarming increases in the prices of fuel, gas, food, and consumer goods on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan.
