Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star

BEIRUT: MP Michel Aoun will attend a new round of national dialogue set to begin Tuesday, but chances of any breakthrough are slim, as rivals remain split over how to resolve a political crisis that has plunged Lebanon into a 16-month presidential vacuum and paralyzed Parliament and the government.

On the eve of the all-party talks, senior officials from the Future Movement and Hezbollah met as part of their ongoing dialogue marred by soaring tensions as the two rival parties traded blame for responsibility for paralysis in state institutions over the past few days. The two sides underscored the importance of national dialogue and its positive impact on the situation.

In an incident reflecting long-simmering tensions that might leave its impact on national dialogue, rival lawmakers nearly came to blows on live TV Monday, after engaging in a shouting match and accusing each other of corruption during a meeting of Parliament’s Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee intended to discuss the country’s chronic electricity crisis.

MP Ziad Aswad, from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, and MP Jamal Jarrah, from the Future bloc, came close to a physical encounter before being held back during a heated debate on the electricity problem.

The altercation erupted after Aswad rejected corruption charges, raised against the energy minister who belongs to Aoun’s bloc, by a Future lawmaker. At this point, other lawmakers from the rival blocs got into the fiery argument.

Television footage showed Aswad and Jarrah pointing fingers at each other, with the former angrily throwing a water bottle at the Future MP. The scuffle was quickly broken up and the meeting was suspended.

The Future Movement and Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement are part of several political parties attending three days of national dialogue starting Tuesday.

A FPM source told The Daily Star that Aoun, who had boycotted one of three dialogue sessions, will attend Tuesday’s talks to be chaired in Parliament by Speaker Nabih Berri and attended by Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, one of two ministers representing Aoun’s bloc in the Cabinet, said the FPM leader would attend the session as “a last chance” to resolve the crisis over military appointments and the government’s decision-making system, seen as essential for reactivating the executive and legislative branches of power.

“If we find out that this dialogue has become a waste of time, we will stop attending,” Bou Saab told MTV Monday night.

Berri said Sunday he would not carry on with national dialogue without Aoun.

Rival political leaders agreed during their third round of dialogue last month to accelerate efforts aimed at ending the presidential deadlock by holding three consecutive sessions on Oct. 6, 7 and 8. The presidential crisis is the first and main topic on the agenda of the inter-Lebanese dialogue, which was launched by Berri last month with the aim of reaching a deal on the election of a president.

The March 8 and March 14 leaders are deeply divided over topics on the dialogue agenda. While the Future Movement and its March 14 allies insist on the election of a president first, Aoun, backed by Hezbollah, demands a new electoral law and parliamentary polls to be followed by the election of a head of state.

Lebanese leaders have said that a rapprochement between rival regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, which back opposing sides in Lebanon, is essential for facilitating the election of a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure ended on May 25, 2014.

The Cabinet has not met since Sept. 9 due to differences among ministers over a decision-making formula and the promotion of senior Army officers, two key demands by the FPM.Salam said Sunday he was still waiting for the outcome of ongoing contacts aimed at resolving the dispute over military promotions before calling for a Cabinet session to address pressing issues, such as the two-month garbage crisis which has triggered a series of anti-government street protests in Downtown Beirut.

Officials from civil society groups Monday renewed their call for a mass demonstration on Martyrs’ Square Thursday on the third day of national dialogue as part of their ongoing campaign against the government and the political class over the failure to resolve the trash crisis.

Rival leaders are expected to touch on an agreement that was reported to have been reached during a meeting held last month on the sidelines of a national dialogue session. That meeting was attended by Berri, Salam, Aoun, former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, MP Walid Jumblatt and MP Mohammad Raad, head of Hezbollah’s bloc in Parliament.

The deal calls for the promotion of three senior Army officers, including Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, Aoun’s son-in-law, to the rank of major general, in exchange for agreement on the Cabinet’s decision-making system and the resumption of Parliament sessions.

However, the military promotions issue is facing opposition from at least eight ministers in the 24-member Cabinet.

The Kataeb Party, which opposes the military promotions, said dialogue should lead to the election of a new president by a Lebanese decision.

“The goal of the dialogue table must be a return to institutions through the election of a new president by a Lebanese decision and by not keeping institutions in the current vacuum,” said a statement issued after a weekly meeting of the party’s political bureau chaired by its leader MP Sami Gemayel.

Meanwhile, senior officials from the Future Movement and Hezbollah held a new round of talks overshadowed by rising tension, days after the two sides traded barbs over the obstruction of state institutions.

The two sides stressed the importance of all-embracing national dialogue and the need for reactivating Parliament and the government.

“The participants discussed the political crisis and stressed the importance of national dialogue and its positive impact on the situation,” said a terse statement issued after the meeting held at Berri’s Ain al-Tineh residence. “They also underscored [the need] to find appropriate solutions to reactivate constitutional institutions as soon as possible.”

Monday’s was the 19th dialogue session sponsored by Berri since last December. The Future-Hezbollah dialogue is primarily aimed at reducing sectarian and political tensions exacerbated by the 4-year-old war in Syria.