Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt reiterated on Saturday his calls for the swift election of a consensual president, holding onto the candidacy of MP Henri Helo.
Jumblatt's comments were made to Sky News Arabia whereby he stressed that lawmakers "will not wait for a foreign intervention to resolve the presidential crisis."
Lebanon's top Christian post was left vacant on May 25 when President Michel Sleiman's six-year mandate ended amid a failure by the rival parties to find a successor.
Jumblatt has supported the candidacy of Aley MP Helo, saying Lebanon needs a centrist president.
Other candidates include Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who has received the backing of the March 14 camp, and his rival Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun who has received the support of Hezbollah.
But Aoun has not officially nominated himself, claiming there should be consensus on him first.
On Tuesday, Speaker Nabih Berri deferred the session tasked to elect a new president until September 2.
Prior to Tuesday's session, nine electoral sessions were held, but parliament has failed so far to elect a new head of state due to lack of quorum.
As for the rising threats by the Islamic State, Jumblatt said that “the Islamic State aims at destroying the whole region and not only Lebanon.”
20 LAF soldiers were killed in clashes that erupted in Arsal on Saturday (August 01) when Syrian gunmen deployed across the region after the arrest of Syrian national Imad Ahmad Jomaa at a checkpoint.
The army said at least 30 other ISF and LAF soldiers were missing and 86 injured in the fighting.
On Thursday (August 07), a military source stated that a truce in Arsal appeared to be holding and the situation in the border town was quiet.
Lebanese security officials say the fighters include members of al Qaeda's Syria branch, the Nusra Front, and an al Qaeda splinter group, the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of land in Syria and Iraq.
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