Lebanon's Parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, reiterated Saturday his call for "dialogue" between the various political parties in order to break the deadlock in the country's presidential election.
Nabih Berri © TOI
Lebanon's Parliament speaker, Nabih Berri (a close ally of Hezbollah and Iran) reiterated Saturday his call for "dialogue" between the various political parties in order to break the deadlock in the country's presidential election, arguing that if they engaged in his proposed dialogue, they could elect a president "in less than 10 days." Berri's remarks were made in an interview published on Saturday by the Arabic-language daily al-Joumhouria.
"We can elect a president in less than 10 days through rational and objective dialogue …. Ultimately, we won't be able to escape the dialogue table and discussions to put an end" to the presidential vacuum, Berri added.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since the end of October 2022 when Michel Aoun's term of office expired. Since then, 12 electoral sessions have been held by Parliament but none have met with success due to a lack of political consensus on the future president.
Hezbollah and Berri's party the Amal Movement remain committed to Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy and are calling for a dialogue under the aegis of the head of parliament to break the deadlock.
Opposition parties continue to reject the proposed seven-day dialogue, followed by electoral sessions with successive rounds of voting.
Hezbollah will hit new Israeli targets if Israel keeps targeting civilians in Lebanon, the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Wednesday, saying there had been a spike in the number of non-combatants killed in Lebanon in recent days.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Oman, the group said on Tuesday, which left at least nine people dead, including three attackers, a rare security breach in the oil-producing Gulf state.
Two armed drones on Tuesday targeted Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts U.S forces and other international forces in western Iraq, two Iraqi military sources told Reuters.
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