Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star

BEIRUT: Hezbollah Monday threw its weight behind MP Michel Aoun in his current standoff with the government, warning against attempts to break or isolate the Free Patriotic Movement leader.

Hezbollah’s stance came a day after Aoun strongly rejected the election of a neutral or consensual president, further prolonging a deadlock that has left Lebanon without a head of state for more than 16 months.

“Hezbollah will not allow the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Gen. Michel Aoun to be broken,” Sheikh Nabil Qawouk, deputy head of Hezbollah’s Executive Council, told a memorial ceremony in south Lebanon.

“We will not allow an essential [political] component in the country to be isolated,” he said.

Qawouk implicitly accused the March 14 coalition of rejecting the FPM’s demands for “actual partnership and real equal power-sharing.”

“It has been proven by tangible proof that there are those who seek to break and isolate Gen. Aoun,” he said. “Orders have been issued from abroad whenever the country draws close to a solution.”

Referring to the inter-Lebanese national dialogue launched by Speaker Nabih Berri last month with the aim of reaching a deal on the election of a president and ending paralysis in Parliament and the government, Qawouk said: “Saudi Arabia’s axis in Lebanon is rejecting solutions and aggravating the crisis.”

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in August denied a claim by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah that the Future Movement was spearheading a campaign to isolate and break Aoun, and instead accused Hezbollah of fabricating the “lie” to justify incitement against its opponents.

Qawouk’s remarks came a day after Aoun wrecked chances of ending the presidential vacuum soon by strongly rejecting the election of a neutral or consensual president, and implicitly sticking to his unyielding stance on the deadlock: “Either me, or no one else.”

Addressing thousands of his FPM supporters who rallied near the presidential palace in suburban Baabda in a show of support for him to fill the country’s top Christian post, Aoun blasted the political class that has been in power for 25 years, accusing it of corruption and blaming it for the current deterioration at various levels.

Aoun did not say whether his two ministers would attend a Cabinet session that Prime Minister Tammam Salam might call for this week to discuss the nearly three-month-long garbage crisis.

The Cabinet has not met since Sept. 3 due to differences among ministers over the contentious issues of military promotions and the government’s decision-making system.

However, Salam was skeptical about calling for a Cabinet session this week to discuss the protracted trash crisis.

“I don’t expect to convene a Cabinet session within the next few days to follow up on the trash issue,” Salam said in remarks published by As-Safir newspaper Monday. He said a political settlement needed to be finalized before he could convene the Cabinet. “We want a productive session, one that would be a turning point in resolving the waste crisis,”Salam said, pointing out that the requirements to hold a meeting have not matured yet.He said the main sticking point was the question of a landfill in the Bekaa Valley, since a socially balanced strategy was critical for the success of the trash plan drafted by Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb.

The FPM’s two ministers, backed by Hezbollah, boycotted a Cabinet session last month to press their demands for the promotion of senior Army officers, including Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, Aoun’s son-in-law, to the rank of major general. Roukoz is due to retire on Oct. 15.

Rival leaders, meeting in a national dialogue session last week, failed to resolve the issue of military promotions, viewed as essential for the resumption of Parliament and Cabinet sessions.

Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said the political system in Lebanon could not function properly without a president “who can control the Lebanese political game and unify the Lebanese.”

“Today, we are in dire need for a salvation roadmap based on the Constitution, the first of its steps is the election of a president and then the formation of a Cabinet to supervise the approval of a modern electoral law that will allow the opposition, the youth forces and independents to be represented in Parliament and enter state institutions,” Machnouk said at a dinner hosted by the Lebanese Business Council in Abu Dhabi Sunday night.

He urged rival leaders to be “modest because Lebanon is in danger.”

The Kataeb Party said the “real change” in the work of institutions begins with the election of “a president who is free from regional and international axes, who enjoys Christian support and is capable of neutralizing Lebanon and safeguarding and achieving its interests,” according to a statement released after a weekly meeting of the party’s Political Bureau chaired by party leader MP Sami Gemayel. The statement called on Salam to end his hesitation and call for “urgent and permanent Cabinet sessions to cope with imminent and accumulated problems that affect the citizens’ health and their daily lives.”

MP Sleiman Frangieh, head of the Marada Movement, reiterated his support for Aoun’s presidential bid, stressing the importance of maintaining alliance among March 8 parties despite different approaches sometimes.

“Our project is the same. Divergence [in stances] happens among all allied parties. This is vital,” Frangieh said at a ceremony marking the launching of the Marada Movement’s new website.

“Gen. Michel Aoun’s clinging to the presidency does not bother us at all. The talk about abandoning [his presidential bid] does not mean that Sleiman Frangieh will become a president,” he said. Frangieh has said he will seek the presidency if Aoun withdraws from the race.

The Future Movement and its March 14 allies, who oppose Aoun’s presidential bid, have proposed an agreement with their March 8 rivals on a consensus candidate as the only solution to ending a political stalemate that has paralyzed Parliament and crippled the government.

Hezbollah has upheld Aoun as its sole candidate, arguing that the FPM leader, who heads the largest Christian bloc in Parliament, is the most qualified person to fill the presidential post.