Qatari envoy meets Lebanese leaders over presidential crisis

A Qatari delegation, headed by the minister of state at the Qatari Foreign Ministry Mohammed Abdel Aziz al-Khulaifi, met Monday with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri over the presidential file.

Al-Khulaifi arrived in Lebanon on Sunday night to discuss the presidential deadlock with the Lebanese leaders.

He also met on Monday with Kataeb leader Sami Gemayyel and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan, and will meet with Hezbollah secretary-general's aide Hussein Khalil and coordination and liaison officer Wafiq Safa, media reports said, adding that the Qatari initiative does not involve the name of Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh.

Franjieh has not officially announced his candidacy, but Hezbollah and Amal officially nominated him, although Hezbollah's ally the FPM would not endorse him.

"The Qatari envoy had no initiative or suggestions, but he is rather exploring view points and listening," Gemayyel said after his meeting with al-Khulaifi. "We didn't discuss names," he told journalists.

Al-Khulaifi will later meet with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil.

He will also shuttle between Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Erslan, and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun's term expired at the end of October.

Lawmakers have held 11 rounds of voting to name a successor to Aoun, but no candidate has garnered enough ballots.

With no single party or parliamentary bloc holding a majority, electing a new president in crisis-hit Lebanon can drag on for months of even years.