Geagea Discusses General Situations with Wahhab in Phone Talks

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Monday called Arab Tawhid Party chief ex-minister Wiam Wahhab, state-run National News Agency reported.

Talks tackled the “general situations,” the agency said.

The phone call follows a TV interview for Wahhab on Sunday evening during which he praised Geagea despite political rivalry.

“Geagea is a political rival but he is not an enemy. He has the courage of both rivalry and reconciliation and this is something that must be appreciated,” said Wahhab.

The former minister, who is close to the Syrian regime, has repeatedly hailed in recent days Geagea's nomination of Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun for the presidency.

Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of successor.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh as president.

Geagea, Hariri's ally in the March 14 camp, was a presidential candidate at the time and some observers have said that the LF leader has nominated Aoun for the presidency as a “reaction” to Hariri's proposal, a claim Geagea has denied.

His endorsement of Aoun's bid was declared in a landmark ceremony in Maarab last Monday and it followed months of political rapprochement talks between the LF and Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement.

Y.R.

M.T.