Twelve of the 13 Forces of Change MPs during a press conference in Beirut. (Credit: Melhem Khalaf Twitter account @MelhemKhalaf)
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Forces of Change MPs yesterday announced a first round of meetings that will last until Saturday to discuss with parliamentary blocs and MPs the election of a successor to President Michel Aoun, whose term ends on Oct. 31. This round of meetings will be followed by a second round in order to begin on “a rescue path that would begin with the presidential elections.” Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea said Saturday that opposition parliamentary groups would reach a consensus on a single presidential candidate “within a few weeks.” The 13 MPs earlier this month launched an initiative to define the profile of the next Lebanese president according to a list of standards. Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai detailed his own standards for the upcoming president while refusing “the prevention of the presidential election and the forcing of a presidential vacancy,” which Geagea claims Hezbollah among others is “heading towards.” As Lebanon’s cabinet continues to serve in a caretaker capacity as caretaker Premier Najib Mikati, who has been designated as prime minister for the upcoming government, still has not succeeded in forming a cabinet, fears loom of a vacuum imposed by failing to elect a president within the constitutional deadline. Forces of Change MPs had set a deadline for Oct. 20 after which they would resort to “popular pressure” tactics. At a Hezbollah event in South Lebanon yesterday, party officials criticized delays in government formation while denying that electing a new head of state would act as a cure-all.
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi will preside over a meeting of the Central Security Council on Tuesday after a security incident over the weekend, which included deadly armed clashes in North and South Lebanon and alleged international drug trafficking. The Lebanese Army yesterday arrested a second suspect in Tripoli, North Lebanon, for alleged involvement in clashes involving military-grade weapons that killed four people in the area on Friday. A first suspect, who died during the clashes, had been identified on Friday as an ex-convict with a "criminal and terrorist" background. Saturday, clashes involving automatic weapons, hand grenades and RPGs in the Ain al Hilweh refugee camp in Saida, South Lebanon, injured seven people. On Friday, Internal Security Forces arrested three alleged drug traffickers reportedly headed by a Georgia-based dealer.
US envoy Amos Hochstein after his visit to Lebanon Friday expressed “optimism” for settling the maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel while noting that “there remains work to be done.” “It’s a matter of weeks,” an advisor to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told L’Orient Today, while a Baabda source claimed to have obtained “guarantees that Lebanon would receive what it demanded: Line 23 and the entirety of the Qana field.” Hochstein’s optimism and a similar deadline were reported after the mediator’s August visit to Lebanon. In late 2020, indirect negotiations on maritime borders resumed, with Lebanon proposing a claim to Line 29, which includes an additional 1,430 square kilometers south of Line 23. Tensions flared between Lebanon and Israel after the latter in June deployed a floating production storage and offloading vessel to the Karish field, which, under Line 29, would be partially disputed as Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone. Energean, which works for Israel, announced last Thursday that gas production from the contested field could begin “within weeks.” Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah has threatened violence against Israel if the exploitation begins before Lebanon is "granted its rights."
Families of migrants who were rescued by Greek authorities blocked a road in Akkar, North Lebanon, to protest their relatives’ “detention” after having been brought ashore in Greece, calling on Lebanese authorities to intervene. The protesters said they would organize a sit-in “in the coming days in front of the Greek Embassy” if their relatives are not released, claiming that the rescued migrants “were being subjected to various types of torture by the Greek authorities.” The Greek coast guard on Wednesday rescued 60 migrants who had been stranded for days at sea, hospitalized those in need of medical care and questioned others, according to Abou Ayman al-Moshmshani, whose son, daughter-in-law and six grandchildren were aboard the boat. A four-year-old child died while being transferred to the hospital, L’Orient Today’s correspondent reported. The passengers’ relatives had blocked a road days before the rescue to call on Greek authorities to intervene amid reports that the boat had been depleted of water, food and fuel.
In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “Accused of being 'on embassies' payroll,' port blast victims' families demand apology.”
Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz