Report: Nasrallah Tells Berri March 8 Not Part of Bassil-Hariri Agreements
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has reassured his ally Speaker Nabih Berri that the March 8 camp does not consider itself to be part of the alleged agreements that were reached by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and ex-PM Saad Hariri's adviser Nader Hariri during their latest meetings, a media report said on Tuesday.
“The political aides of Berri and Nasrallah – Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein al-Khalil – met overnight and discussed the latest developments regarding the presidential file,” al-Liwaa newspaper reported.
“They also discussed the calculations of each of Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement regarding the nomination of (FPM founder MP Michel) Aoun and what needs to be done after the head of al-Mustaqbal Movement officially declares” his endorsement of Aoun, the daily added.
Hizbullah's envoy reassured the finance minister that “his allies in the March 8 camp are not concerned with the guarantees and agreements that were reached or signed between Bassil and Nader Hariri, not to mention that Hizbullah itself considers itself not concerned with these agreements,” al-Liwaa said.
Berri is strongly opposed to Aoun's nomination and is one of the main backers of the nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.
According to a report published by al-Akhbar newspaper on Tuesday, Berri has accused Aoun and Hariri of seeking to “topple political Shiism” in Lebanon, warning that such an attempt might lead to a “civil war” in the country.
MP Alain Aoun of the FPM announced Monday that Hariri will announce his endorsement of Aoun “this week.”
The ex-PM has been exploring the possibility of endorsing Aoun for several weeks now and on Sunday Education Minister Elias Bou Saab of the FPM announced that Hariri has officially decided to endorse Aoun's presidential bid.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.
Hariri launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/218649 |