" Hezbollah" wants a president of the republic who "acknowledges, respects, and recognizes the role of the resistance in protecting national sovereignty," as well as recognizing its role in demarcating maritime borders with Israel and the importance of its weapons in "protecting oil wealth". And who fits this required profile better than Gebran Bassil after Michel Aoun? Because Bassil meets these requirements, Hezbollah has previously boosted the size of his bloc in the parliamentary elections by eight deputies, as former minister Wiam Wahhab stated. Today, the leader of the "Free Patriotic Movement" continues to butter up Hezbollah through its arms, hoping that circumstances might allow for a change of heart regarding running for the presidential election, as he hinted during the 13th of October commemoration. He did not miss the opportunity to flatter "Mr. Hassan," who established the equation that there is no gas from Karish without gas from Qana, and to praise the "strength of the resistance, its missiles, and drones" in achieving "victory over the maritime borders".
In the midst of the presidential elections being stalled and constitutional deadlines being manipulated, the March 8 Alliance found its solution in calling for a dialogue dinner at the Swiss embassy tomorrow "to pour poison into its dishes and serve it for the agenda of 'booby-trapping' the presidential elections and 'dismantling' the Taif Agreement." This quickly raised alarms among some opposition forces that were invited, causing the "Swiss dinner" plan to burn early due to a succession of apologies for non-participation.
While the organizers of the dinner sought to emphasize that it "does not rise to the level of national dialogue but is supposed to be a session of political brainstorming about Lebanese affairs and their future implications, with a Swiss commitment to keeping the discussion within the framework of the Taif Agreement," the ruling parties did not hesitate to seize the opportunity, attempting to use the Swiss embassy dinner as a dialogue platform to "divert attention from the priority of the presidential election," as sources from the "Lebanese Forces" confirmed to "Nidaa al-Watan", clarifying that the invitation came under the title of "social event." However, once it became apparent that matters were taking on a "political event" character, it was decided to refrain from participating in the dinner "in the belief that the priority now is to elect a new president for the republic, while the invited parties from the other side have a known stance in obstructing the presidential election, and thus it was essential to reject any attempts to distract attention from the significance and priority of this election under any title."
Subsequently, the media office of the "Lebanese Forces" announced that after the approach to the dinner at the Swiss embassy shifted from a "purely social" event to a "dialogue table being prepared inside or outside the country in this particular circumstance," they requested MP Melhem Riachy to apologize for non-participation in this dinner. They added: "The country needs presidential elections that restore the role of constitutional institutions under the constitution and correct the coup against the Taif Agreement, not sterile dialogues that do not yield any result," emphasizing that any dialogue should not "jump over an issue as important as the presidential elections," and that it should be preceded by "working papers that adhere to the constitution, the Taif Agreement, international and Arab references, and Lebanese constants, on which the dialogue should be based."
Concurrently, statements made by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the opening of the new session of the Saudi Shura Council emphasized: "In Lebanon, we confirm the necessity of implementing comprehensive structural political and economic reforms that lead to overcoming its crisis, and the importance of extending the authority of its government over all Lebanese territory to ensure its security and address drug smuggling operations and terrorist activities threatening the security and stability of the region."
Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari also tweeted in the evening, affirming that "the National Accord Document is a binding contract to establish the pillars of the pluralistic Lebanese entity, and any alternative will not be another charter but rather a disintegration of the contract of coexistence, the disappearance of the unified nation, and its replacement with entities that do not resemble Lebanon's message." Bukhari is visiting Baabda and Ain al-Tineh today.
On the side of the "Change MPs" bloc, it was reported yesterday that MP Ibrahim Mneimneh's confirmation to participate in the Swiss dinner caused some confusion among his bloc, especially in light of some colleagues' objections to this participation, based on the principle of rejecting "dialogues in embassies and the necessity of restricting any national dialogue within the framework of the legislative institution." This situation compelled Mneimneh to reconsider and communicate his apology for attending the Swiss embassy invitation, in line with the opinion of most of his "Change" colleagues.
