Lebanese soldiers in front of the Parliament building, May 31, 2022, in Place des Étoiles, Beirut. (Credit: Anwar Amro/AFP)
“We have no greater priority than ending the presidential vacuum crushing this country,” said Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan in his Friday sermon. Usually focusing his sermons on the “resistance Axis” and the “support front” since the start of the war in South Lebanon and Gaza, Kabalan deviated from his usual topic of choice this week.His renewed interest in the presidential election — and his positioning as Hezbollah’s unofficial spokesperson — comes at a time when diplomatic efforts to resolve 23 months of presidential vacancy are picking up again. The Quintet ambassadors (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, the United States and France) are set to meet in mid-September in Beirut, following talks in Riyadh last week between Paris and Saudi Arabia’s envoys of Lebanon. The international community now sees an opportunity to make progress,...
“We have no greater priority than ending the presidential vacuum crushing this country,” said Jaafarite Mufti Ahmad Kabalan in his Friday sermon. Usually focusing his sermons on the “resistance Axis” and the “support front” since the start of the war in South Lebanon and Gaza, Kabalan deviated from his usual topic of choice this week.His renewed interest in the presidential election — and his positioning as Hezbollah’s unofficial spokesperson — comes at a time when diplomatic efforts to resolve 23 months of presidential vacancy are picking up again. The Quintet ambassadors (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, the United States and France) are set to meet in mid-September in Beirut, following talks in Riyadh last week between Paris and Saudi Arabia’s envoys of Lebanon. The international community now sees an opportunity to...
