Saqr: President Not Purely 'Made in Lebanon', Strong President Means Strong State

MP Oqab Saqr, who is close to Premier-designate Saad Hariri, announced Thursday that Lebanon's new president was not purely “made in Lebanon.”

“Claims that we received a green light from foreign forces to elect a president or that the president was purely 'made in Lebanon' are both incorrect,” Saqr, who returned Sunday to Lebanon after years of self-imposed exile, said in an interview on LBCI television.

Hariri's presidential initiative was first "made in Lebanon" and then “promoted abroad,” Saqr added, referring to Hariri's talks with foreign leaders that preceded his nomination of Michel Aoun for the presidency.

Aoun was elected president on Monday in the wake of Hariri's key support for his nomination, which ended around two and a half years of presidential vacuum.

“Saad Hariri sought to prevent the collapse of the Taef Accord, which is the real heritage of Rafik Hariri,” Saqr told LBCI.

“Strong President Aoun is carrying the aspirations of Christians,” he noted.

“A strong president is strong through a strong State and such a state cannot withstand the presence of a statelet,” Saqr added, referring to Hizbullah's presence as an armed non-state actor.

“That's why today General Aoun is our guarantee,” he went on to say.

Saqr also hailed Speaker Nabih Berri for his bloc's nomination of Hariri for the premiership earlier in the day.

He “proved that he is a real statesman today,” the lawmaker added.

As for the security concerns that prompted him to reside in Europe for several years, Saqr revealed that before leaving Lebanon, he was informed by “the army Intelligence Directorate and the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch” that an operation to assassinate him was being plotted.

He also said that he was not told about the identity of the party that was plotting to murder him.

Hariri's nomination and Aoun's election have raised hopes that Lebanon can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees.

In a sign that Hariri's task ahead might not be easy, Hizbullah's MPs declined to endorse him for the prime minister post on Thursday, even though his nomination was all-but-assured.

Hariri is likely to struggle with his government's policy statement, which will have to make reference to Israel, as well as the war in Syria, both potential flashpoints with Hizbullah.

The process of forming a government could take months, with horsetrading likely to revolve around the distribution of key posts like the interior, defense and energy ministries.