Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad said on Monday the Iran-backed group's opponents were seeking its fragmentation and exclusion from power in Lebanon.
Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammad Raad speaks after meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, January 13, 2025. Reuters/Mohamed Azakir
Senior Hezbollah lawmaker Mohammed Raad said on Monday the Iran-backed group's opponents were seeking its fragmentation and exclusion from power in Lebanon.
Speaking at the presidential palace after Hezbollah lawmakers had met with President Joseph Aoun, Raad said his group had "extended its hand" by helping to secure Aoun's election as Lebanon's president last week, only to find the "hand cut off".
Earlier on Monday Lebanese lawmakers backed Nawaf Salam, head of the International Court of Justice, to be the country's new prime minister, a move that reflected the weakened position of Hezbollah, which had wanted incumbent Najib Mikati to keep the job.
Reporting by Tom Perry
Middle East diplomacy appeared to falter heading into Monday with the postponement of a meeting between Iran and other Gulf powers, while attacks around the region's two most important oil transit routes deepened concern over global energy supplies.
Israel and Lebanon will meet in Rome in October to discuss a U.S.-brokered security agreement intended to ease hostilities along the border, a State Department Official told Reuters.
New strikes on Saudi Arabia and on ships in the Gulf tested nerves in the Middle East on Sunday, after an attack on a Saudi oil pipeline and an advance by Yemen's Houthis threatened to worsen the wartime disruption to global energy supplies.
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