The presidential development highlighted yesterday by "Nidaa Al-Watan" was represented by a meeting between the head of the "Loyalty to the Resistance" bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, which received media attention. According to new information, the meeting took place a week ago at the home of retired Colonel Didier Rahhal in Hazmieh, who is a close associate of General Aoun. The meeting occurred immediately after the visit of Senior U.S. Energy Adviser Amos Hochstein to Lebanon last week, where he also dined with Aoun.
"Hezbollah" refrained from discussing the meeting, as evidenced by the statement released yesterday after the regular meeting of the bloc chaired by Raad himself. The statement merely confirmed the party's openness to "any realistic dialogue effort or initiative that contributes to providing opportunities for achieving the presidential entitlement."
What if the dialogue initiated by "Hezbollah" regarding General Aoun's entry into the presidential race progresses toward a positive conclusion? Well-informed sources answered this question through "Nidaa Al-Watan," stating: If the communications to bring General Aoun to the presidency move forward, the task for the Shiite duo will be to withdraw the nomination of the head of the Marda Movement, Suleiman Franjieh, from the presidential race. Additionally, "Hezbollah" would need to convince its ally, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, MP Gibran Bassil, to accept the nomination of the Army Commander for the presidency, as he remains strongly opposed.
These sources estimate that if the Army Commander's nomination proceeds, President Nabih Berri will settle Franjieh's status, especially since he was the first to nominate him for the presidency. Elements of this settlement would involve Franjieh promising to grant a ministerial position to his son, MP Tony, in the first government of the new term, thus opening a political path for him to enter the presidential race in the future.
As for Bassil's dilemma, which appears complicated for "Hezbollah" to resolve, these sources believe that it will be left to Qatar, which is actively working on the presidential entitlement process with a prior position supporting the Army Commander's nomination.
Last night, during Bassil's appearance at a dinner for the "Batroun District Authority," he avoided commenting directly on Raad and General Aoun, resorting instead to generalities, stating: "One side wants to impose a president on us who lacks representation and popular legitimacy, does not have the sufficient number of MPs, and lacks constitutional legitimacy, and insists on its position, which prolongs the vacancy and only talks about power sharing and our interests after six years. Another side wants to impose on the first side a president that challenges it and does not have the sufficient number of MPs; it wants only, but is unable to."
