“Will Nasrallah-Frangieh duo burn Lebanon down?”: Saudi newspaper Okaz

The political silence surrounding Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s announcement of Frangieh’s nomination, and whether it was a professional move to “burn him” or to seriously bring him to Baabda Palace, has swept the political forces that are working to dismantle it.

This article is originally published in, translated from Saudi newspaper Okaz, and is written by journalist Rawiya Hechmi.

While waiting for Frangieh to officially announce his candidacy, it seems that the Hezbollah-Amal duo has brought Lebanon to the final turning point before the decision. The process of monitoring positions, especially the opposition, has begun, which has repeatedly confirmed that it will not secure a quorum for electing a defiant or submissive presidential candidate to this axis.

Moreover, member of the National Moderation Bloc, MP Sajih Attieh, expressed his optimism that “the presidential battle has started seriously,” noting that “there has been progress with the presidency after a name was proposed instead of the blank ballot, and whenever names are proposed, the picture becomes clear. He then pointed out that the competition became according to who gets more votes, and what is required of the MPs to go down to the parliament.”

Change MP Waddah Sadek stressed in a tweet, “I have repeatedly stated that the official Hezbollah-Amal’s nomination of Sleiman Frangieh is the beginning of serious work to elect a president. There is now a political balance, legislative balance, and today a nomination balance, and the solution may be closer than we think.”

Furthermore, Former Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra confirmed that Nasrallah’s words indicate that he is not in the best condition, especially after holding him responsible for the economic deterioration and the establishment of quasi-security normalization after the demarcation of the maritime borders with Israel, thus presenting a positive impression to the Americans that he can come up with a settlement president who will remove the responsibility for the economic collapse from him.

In a recent statement, the vice President of Kataeb party Salim Sayegh, said “Frangieh’s support is to raise the ceiling in light of a major clash that is translated into international alignment between two axes.

He also mentioned that “while it is said that the opposition cannot come up with a president, I also doubt that the candidate of the Hezbollah-Amal will reach the presidency, and we will do everything we can so that Hezbollah’s candidate does not reach the presidency.”

While waiting for Frangieh to officially announce his candidacy and re-launch his positions on the critical files, internally, in the Arab world, and regionally, here is a quick reminder of the most prominent things Frangieh wrote, especially about his relationship with Hezbollah: “The relationship with Sayyed Nasrallah is a relationship of friendliness, clarity, and sincerity that surpasses all presidential and other files,” he stated. 

“We are with him in the future, no matter what happens, and the relationship with him is more important than all positions.” (April 2019)

“Nasrallah is always a brother, friend, and father, and the relationship with him cannot be touched by anything.” (May 2017)

“We are with the resistance without conditions, and wherever it is, we trust Nasrallah’s wisdom.” (July 2017)