Yazbek Says President Election a 'Regional Issue', Accuses Saudi of Obstruction

Senior Hizbullah official Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek has stressed that his party is not to blame for the delay in electing a new president, pinning the blame anew on Saudi Arabia.

“From now on, we won't allow anyone to overlook us or to accuse us of anything. We want this country to be independent, free and dignified, and we're not calling for this through slogans. We're the ones who have paid the heftiest price for liberating the country, ever since Imam Sayyed Moussa al-Sadr launched the resistance,” Yazbek, the head of Hizbullah's so-called Juristic Council, said.

“We will continue to offer sacrifices to preserve our dignity, presence and country, with all due respect to everyone and to those who have made sacrifices,” he added.

Yazbek emphasized that Hizbullah is demanding a “strong state and the revival of institutions, from the presidency to the parliament and government” and that it wants the election of a president “today, not tomorrow.”

“We are not behind the problem and let no one launch an accusation that contains some form of sedition. The issue is not Lebanese but rather regional and the Saudi Arabia is the main player, in addition to the countries that try to appease it,” the Hizbullah official added.

“Claims that Shiites do not want a state are lies... We believe that this country is everyone's country, that it can only rise through the efforts of all parties, and that no one can eliminate the other,” Yazbek went on to say.

On Thursday, al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc noted that the latest stances of Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah have “once again” confirmed that Hizbullah and its regional backer Iran are “obstructing” the presidential election in Lebanon.

Nasrallah had announced Tuesday that the FPM and al-Mustaqbal have reached “agreements” regarding the presidential election, calling for involving Speaker Nabih Berri and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh in the understandings.

Reiterating Hizbullah's support for Aoun's nomination, Nasrallah said “Hizbullah's choice has always been clear.” “We are the people of honesty, loyalty and commitment to our stances. This is how we've always been and this is how we'll always remain,” he added.

Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun's chances to be elected president have largely surged in recent days and Education Minister Elias Bou Saab of the FPM announced Sunday that al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri has officially decided to endorse Aoun's presidential bid.

Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum.

Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah.

The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.