Berri suggests fusing initiatives with Le Drian for Lebanon's benefit

After a long wait, the French presidential envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived on Monday in Beirut.

This article was originally published in, translated from the online newspaper Al Anbaa.

Le Drian is set to begin his meetings on Tuesday morning at the Pine Palace, where it is hoped that he has new ideas that can be built upon.

However, the political sources in Beirut, as well as the media, do not appear optimistic about any new developments in the absence of clear indications.

Additionally, there is a general impression that Paris continues to act independently of the "International Quintet." The visit of the US Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein and the attention given to him by Lebanese officials, along with his presence in Lebanon coinciding with the presence of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, all indicated that the key to Lebanese solutions has returned to American hands.

Indeed, only Le Drian knows the details of his third Lebanese mission, especially since the new French ambassador in Beirut, Hervé Magro, has been meeting with Lebanese leaders to clarify French ideas further.

Among those he met Monday was the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Deputy Gebran Bassil, who is engaged in deep talks with Hezbollah, which is reserved about the difficult FPM conditions, such as expanded administrative decentralization and the oil and gas revenue fund.

Furthermore, there were talks of freezing the initiative of the Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, which is based on seven days of dialogue followed by consecutive electoral sessions until the election of a president. However, Speaker Berri denied this on Monday, saying to "Al Liwaa" newspaper, "I did not freeze my initiative; it is ongoing and complements the French initiative."

He then added, "I am waiting for Le Drian's visit, and I expect to integrate my initiative with his to achieve the desired positive outcome through dialogue and consensus."

Deputy Ghassan Hasbani, a member of the Strong Republic bloc, raised questions about signing at the G20 conference to establish an economic corridor from India to Europe, passing through the Gulf, Jordan, and Israel, except Lebanon.

The project includes constructing railway lines connecting Asia to the Middle East, India to Europe, and electricity and hydrogen lines and infrastructure development. He wondered, "Where is the ruling resistance authority amid this significant development?"

Meanwhile, the Cabinet did not hold its morning and afternoon sessions to discuss the issue of Syrian refugees' influx into Lebanon in the morning session and to continue the discussion on the 2024 budget items in the afternoon session due to a lack of quorum.

Based on this, the caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has decided to "hold a consultative meeting with the present ministers, the Lebanese Army Chief and the Director General of General Security.

Moreover, Mikati emphasized that "the government has never delayed in making appropriate decisions on this issue, and the army and all security agencies are doing their duties in this regard. But what is required is a unified national stance on addressing this issue, especially the recent illegal influx of hundreds of Syrians through unofficial border crossings."