Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has lauded the latest stances of Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil regarding the presidential crisis.

“Bassil spoke of consensus and has supported dialogue with my mechanism and under my chairmanship, and in this regard Jebran is better than the others,” Berri told al-Jadeed television.

The Lebanese Forces on Monday hit back at remarks by Speaker Nabih Berri, stressing that the “consultations” that he is calling for are not “obligatory as he is saying.”

“There is not any constitutional text that says that ‘consultations are the obligatory pathway’ and we call on Speaker Berri and others to abide by the constitution and its texts,” the LF’s media department added in a statement.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said there is no backing down from presidential consultations.

Berri told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Monday, that consultations are "obligatory" to break the presidential deadlock, accusing "some" parties of obstructing the election of a president.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh, as part of a series of meetings he has launched to discuss the presidential crisis.

“We agreed that consensus would be much better than election and what’s important is to secure the success of the presidential tenure alongside securing the election itself,” Bassil said after the meeting.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh has called for “accepting the principle of dialogue and agreeing on a full package” or “going to elections between the two main political camps in the country,” noting that he and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea would represent the two camps in such an election.

“We would congratulate the winner,” he added, noting that such an approach would “restore the prestige of the presidential vote, the presidential race and the presidency itself.”

Hezbollah targeted Monday several Israeli posts, in response to Israeli strikes on Lebanese villages.

The group said it attacked with suicide drones a command center east of the Mediterranean seaside town of Nahariya, in response to strikes on the southern border villages of Aitaroun and Markaba that killed two Hezbollah members Saturday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has kicked off an initiative related to the presidential vote by meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi.

“We are carrying out an effort to agree on a consensual president based on two conditions: building the state and protecting Lebanon, and these individuals are present if we truly want to elect a president,” Bassil said after the meeting.

The Progressive Socialist Party kicked off this week a series of meetings with the Lebanese political parties in a bid to break a knotty presidential impasse, few days after French special envoy to Lebanon, Jean-Yves Le Drian, left Beirut empty-handed.

In Maarab, a PSP delegation met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and MPs Ghassan Hasbani and Nazih Matta, while Former minister Ghazi Aridi held meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri and Hussein Khalil, the political aide of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah fired Thursday for the first time air defense missiles at Israeli warplanes that the group said were "breaking the sound barrier and terrorizing children."

Hezbollah said in a statement that its air defense missiles forced the warplanes to "retreat beyond the border."

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has traveled to northern Israel after an intensification of Hezbollah attacks there, warning of “tougher days” ahead, Israel’s Channel 12 has reported.

Gantz met with the mayors of several northern towns close to the frontier and told them: “Don’t complain about the present, because the future could be more problematic.”