Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaking during a televised address on May 31, 2024. (Screenshot from al-Manar TV)
BEIRUT — Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah insisted, during a speech given on Friday, that Lebanon's presidential vacancy is not related to Israel's war on Gaza.
"From the first day [of the war], we have said that the presidential election and the war in Gaza are not linked," Nasrallah said, during a ceremony honoring Sheikh Ali Mohammad Kassem Kourani.
Lebanon has been without a president since Michel Aoun ended his term in October 2022.
His comments come as many in the political sphere believe that the presidential deadlock cannot be resolved until the war in southern Lebanon comes to an end. Hezbollah opened a "support front" following the onset of the war in Gaza, saying it will continue to engage Israel along the Lebanese border so long as Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza.
Nasrallah, on the other hand, sees the impasse as a result of "internal disagreement and external interference and vetoes," stemming back before the outbreak of the war.
"Why wasn't a president been elected between the start of the vacancy and Operation al-Aqsa Flood?" Nasrallah posited.
"We want the internal issues to come to a conclusion, and we call for dialogue. If there is any way to reach a solution other than dialogue, tell us!"
Hezbollah and its ally, Nabih Berri's Amal Movement, are backing the candidacy of Marada leader Sleiman Frangieh, while the opposition, joined by the Free Patriotic Movement (Aounist, normally allied with Hezbollah), are backing former Finance Minister and International Monetary Fund executive Jihad Azour.
Several months ago, the National Moderation bloc (Sunni, ex-Hariri deputies) launched an initiative to bring the two sides together for a consultation session in Parliament. Amal and Hezbollah rejected the invitation, since they believe that only the Speaker of Parliament has the authority to convene and chair talks between parliamentary blocs.
South Lebanon, a 'pressure' front
The Gaza war "concerns everyone in the region," Nasrallah said. "Just as it concerns Palestine, this battle also concerns the future of Lebanon, its water and oil resources, and its sovereignty."
Nasrallah reminded his audience that the front in southern Lebanon is "a strong, pressure front," and criticized the idea that "the majority of Lebanese do not want war in southern Lebanon."
"This is not true," he claimed. "Didn't all the martyrs who fell come from the Lebanese people?"
Resistance 'stronger than ever'
Nasrallah hailed the commitment and "awakening" of students as protests in support of Palestine fill campuses around the world, saying it was "the first time that the 'Axis of Resistance' has extended this far, while the enemy's front is in its worst state in 75 years," he said.
"The Israeli army is powerless and exhausted, even incapable of achieving any accomplishments. It is clear that Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on waging war is worsening the situation for the Israeli state," Nasrallah said.
Protests continue to gain momentum in Israel as various groups and demographics demonstrate against the government with various demands, from ending the war to calling new elections.