Alwaght- Undoubtedly, Suleiman Franjieh is one of the politicians close to Hezbollah and is popular among the Lebanon’s Islamic resistant movement’s public. But it seems that proposing Franjieh by Saudi Arabia as president of Lebanon could be a subtle and astute setup by Riyadh to hit the March 8 Alliance, led by Hezbollah.
It has been 18 months since the presidency term of Michel Suleiman expired, and since then the Lebanese political fractions have failed to agree upon a new president. Due to different reasons, mostly having regional and foreign roots, Lebanon’s two major political fronts, March 8 Alliance and March 14 Alliance, have been locked in a stalemate over choosing the country’s new president. According to Lebanon’s political structure, the country’s president must be picked from the Maronite Christians, the prime minister from the Sunnis and the parliament’s speaker from the Shiites.
While the Hezbollah-led March 8 Alliance insists on presidency of Michel Aoun, its ally and the Lebanon’s Free Patriotic Movement’s leader, and suggests that Aoun is the best choice for the post, the March 14 Alliance, led by Saad Hariri’s fraction, has strongly opposed Aoun’s presidency suggestion and at the same time it failed to suggest its own choice. This deadlock left choosing Lebanon’s president remain in a complete limbo.
When about two weeks ago Saad Hariri said that he was not opposing Suleiman Franjieh, Marada Movement’s leader, for Lebanon’s presidency post, many, specifically politicians from March 8 Alliance and Hezbollah, have become surprised. Franjieh, 50, grew up in a prominent political family. When his grandfather was Lebanon’s president, He was only 13 and his father Tony Franjieh along with his mother and sister were murdered in a famed massacre by the rival Maronite fractions. The killing was conducted by forces of Samir Geagea, who has close ties with Saudi Arabia and is one of the candidates for the country’s presidency post.
Franjieh had close relations with the Syrian President’s brother Bassel al-Assad, and when Bassel al-Assad was killed in a car accident, Franjieh became closer to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom he called a real brother, and their relations have continued to the present time. Franjieh has once posted on his Twitter that the next generation would envy this one for “living in the days of Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah”, Hezbollah’s leader.
Although Suleiman Franjieh's nomination for the post, which has received the regional and international powers’ welcome, is a favorite choice for Hezbollah, it seems that the movement’s leaders and fans are concerned about Hariri’s and Saudi Arabia’s real intention behind agreeing with Franjieh’s designation for the president post.
The nomination of Franjieh has put Hezbollah in a tight corner, because agreeing with the proposal could lead in discomfort of its ally Michel Aoun, who sees Lebanese presidential post as his own right. Therefore, the resistant movement has so far refrained from making a hasty decision in order to avoid March 8 Alliance’s collapse and at the same time thwart Aoun-Franjieh tension. Hezbollah is well aware that eruption of a dispute between the two Maronite leaders would end up in its loss and the opposing side’s win.
Pointing to the Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah’s apprehension of the case, Lebanon’s AL Akhbar newspaper, close to Hezbollah, has deliberated on the reasons for suggesting Suleiman Franjieh as Lebanon’s president, reporting that Hezbollah’s leader has advised Franjieh to move ahead calmly and make no haste and listen to the other side’s comments but make no commitment because they had a lot of time.
“Our situation in the region is appropriate and it is improving further. Take this issue into account. They may have decided to set a trap for us to destroy the resistance front. As you know the March 8 Alliance has agreed on nomination of General Michel Aoun”, Al Akhbar quoted Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah as addressing Suleiman Franjieh.
It is yet not clear what Aoun’s standing on nomination of Franjieh for the post is. The Lebanese local resources suggested that the Maronite Christian leaders would not easily come to terms with the proposal. But, the obvious issue is that should Aoun disagrees with the nomination, Hezbollah would face difficult conditions.
