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Hizbullah Rejects 'Puppet' President, Admits 'Deep Differences' with Mustaqbal

Hizbullah announced Sunday that it does not want a president who would be a “front for foreign countries,” as it stressed that dialogue will continue with al-Mustaqbal movement despite the “deep differences.”

“We want the election of a president for Lebanon and all Lebanese, a president who would shoulder his national responsibilities and who would not be a front for any side or state or a puppet for implementing the plots of others,” head of Hizbullah juristic council Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek said at a memorial service in Bouday.

The presidential seat has been vacant since May 25, 2014 due to the parliament's failure to elect a successor amid political disputes and electoral rivalry. The MPs of Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement boycotted 20 electoral sessions, preventing the formation of the needed quorum for the election of a president.

Hinting at FPM leader MP Michel Aoun -- Hizbullah's declared candidate – Yazbek said “there is a figure who is capable of achieving this country's rise.”

“But those who heed the instructions of foreign forces do not want the election of this president,” the senior Hizbullah official lamented.

Meanwhile, MP Ali Fayyad of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc noted Sunday in the southern town of Ainata that “despite the escalation and insults in the media,” Hizbullah does not want the Lebanese arena to “plunge once again into tensions and crises.”

“There is a need for pacification and we are keen on dialogue because it is a Lebanese need,” Fayyad added.

A war of words had erupted between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal against the backdrop of the Saudi-led campaign against Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels.

The exchange of tirades, however, did not affect the dialogue that started on December 21 between the two parties.

Dialogue “has not lost its importance despite the deep differences over the regional issues,” Fayyad underlined.

“Regardless of all this noise and the crises that are hitting the region … the eye of the resistance remains on the Israeli enemy,” the MP added.

Y.R.


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