French and Qatari Envoys Actively Pursue Presidential Mandate Resolution in Lebanon

When French Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian's plane lands today at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, coming from Paris, he will immediately proceed to Ain el-Tineh to meet with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. 

Meanwhile, his colleague in the Quintet Committee for Lebanon, Qatari Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, arrived in Tehran last Sunday for a meeting related to the committee's recent gathering in Doha.

 

The consecutive moves by France and Qatar towards the Lebanese and Iranian capitals indicate that the Quintet meeting was more than a mere casual gathering. 

Sources told "Nidaa Al-Watan" that Le Drian and Al-Khulaifi are each preparing in their own way to achieve a primary objective—accomplishing the presidential entitlement according to the roadmap set by the Quintet.

On the Qatari side, information indicated that a security delegation visited Lebanon over the past weekend and met with Hezbollah officials to discuss the party's position solely regarding the presidential elections. 

The delegation sought opinions on nominating Army Commander General Joseph Aoun for the presidency. Still, the response was the party's insistence on nominating the leader of the Marada Movement, Sleiman Frangieh.

The Qatari delegation conveyed the outcome of this meeting to Al-Khulaifi before he arrived in Tehran so he could rely on it during his discussions with Iranian officials. Among those he met in Tehran were Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Velayati and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, according to Fars News Agency.

As for the French side, well-informed sources told "Nidaa Al-Watan" that Le Drian's primary goal during his visit to Lebanon was to reaffirm France's commitment to resolving the presidential crisis. 

France has not surrendered or been discouraged by obstacles and hurdles; it remains determined to lead Lebanon out of the dark tunnel it finds itself in. Le Drian will share the results of the Quintet's meeting with those he meets in Lebanon.

The sources added: "The French envoy has come to gauge the situation with a solid argument, presenting the facts discussed during the Quintet meeting. 

The importance of this meeting lies in the document it produced, a joint statement that serves as a roadmap clearly defining that the presidential mandate is to be achieved through parliamentary elections, respecting the mechanisms."

They further stated: "This roadmap refutes two French targets that Paris had been seeking to achieve, namely dialogue and trade-offs, or what is referred to as the comprehensive package."

A diplomatic source in Paris informed "Nidaa Al-Watan" that Le Drian is extremely serious about achieving a qualitative breakthrough in the political crisis related to accomplishing the presidential mandate. 

This accomplishment would allow him to move on to a second mission, combining it with his ongoing follow-up on the Lebanese file. Thus, he faces two challenges:

First, the issue of his appointment as the head of the French Agency for Development of Relations between France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia while continuing to follow up on the Lebanese file. This appointment is currently in the process of being finalized.

Second, transitioning from the phase of the French initiative, as announced in the recent Doha meeting, to the stage of genuinely expressing the Arab and international Quintet's directions on how to approach the presidential mandate. 

This will determine his ability to push Lebanese factions towards reaching an agreement on a capable figure who can bring together Lebanese leadership beyond all alignments, resulting in the election of a president. This will lead to a Lebanese dialogue on all pending issues.

The source confirms that Le Drian's return does not imply magical solutions, as there is a vast gap between what he aims to achieve and the harsh reality of extensive disputes, necessitating a decisive decision that the committee hinted at in its joint statement. Will they shift from persuasion to enforcement? 

Le Drian's new mission will reveal this, which will be crucial in determining the direction of affairs.
On the eve of Le Drian's return, French Ambassador Anne Grillo visited Speaker Berri and Caretaker Prime Minister Mikati, bidding them farewell as her tenure in Lebanon ended. He prepares to assume the position of Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a related context, it is learned that the statements made by MP Alain Aoun, a member of the Free Patriotic Movement, regarding the end of the party's alignment with the opposition on nominating former Minister Jihad Azour, do not represent the party's position. MP Fadi Karam of the Strong Lebanon bloc stated yesterday that "the indications we receive from the party suggest that it continues to align on Azour."