A meeting between Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat touched on the presidential elections, the adoption of draft-laws and the extension of the tenure of high-ranking security officials.

Local dailies described on Wednesday the visit as “positive” and comes to repay a similar visit by Jumblat to Rabieh on August 6.

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday called for continuing the dialogues that are underway between a number of parties away from some “rogue voices,” noting the rival March 14 camp is trying to make up for its “losses” through the formation of a national council.

“Any remarks that take us backwards under various alibis are not beneficial and all rogue voices must be silenced,” the bloc said after its weekly meeting in Rabieh in a statement recited by former minister Salim Jreissati.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun held talks on Tuesday with Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat at his residence in Clemenceau.

The two officials held a bilateral meeting behind closed doors.

Ministers refused on Tuesday to comment on the possible extension of the terms of high-ranking security officials, citing the delicate situation that the country is passing through.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel refused to comment to As Safir newspaper on the thorny matter, saying: “I will not enter in any political rhetoric amid the current circumstances, which everyone realizes their sensitivity.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun rejected outright the extension of the terms of security officers, calling on the appointment of new generals to lead the army and the Internal Security Forces.

“Any further extension of their terms is a clear violation of the law,” Aoun told As Safir newspaper in an interview published on Monday.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has denied that he proposed his son-in-law Commando Regiment chief Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz to be appointed army chief.

“I am always criticized over my alleged intentions and thoughts,” Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper in the second part of an interview published on Wednesday. “I never said I wanted him (Roukoz) army commander. Journalists said so.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun has promised to hold accountable corrupt officials if he were elected a president, denying that he has made certain political concessions and stressing that he is part of the resistance axis against jihadists and Israel.

“If I were elected president, I would deploy the accountability system and consolidate judicial inspection,” Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper in a lengthy interview published on Tuesday.

Deputy Lebanese Forces leader and lawmaker George Adwan described on Monday the dialogue between the party and the Free Patriotic Movement as “positive,” stressing that Hizbullah's performance is thwarting the election of a new head of state.

“We have bridged the gaps and the ties are almost normal... The agreement document is almost 80 percent done,” Adwan said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

The head of the Beirut Port Authority Hassan Qoraytem is expected to visit Bkirki on Thursday to defend his decision to fill the controversial fourth basin at the port, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

The daily said Qoraytem will hold talks with Bishop Boulos Sayyah, who is expected to reiterate to the port official that Christian parties reject the filling of the basin.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea described the presidential deadlock as a “misery,” laying blame on Hizbullah-backer Iran and saying no solution was currently lying on the horizon .

“More than any other time Iran does not want a president for Lebanon unless he belonged to its camp,” Geagea told journalists who visited him in Maarab on Tuesday.