(Adnkronos) – The election of a new president of Lebanon ending a two-year vacuum is crucial as the crisis-hit state reels from an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Friday.
‘The goal of our diplomatic action is a ceasefire in Gaza and a ceasefire in Lebanon,” Tajani told reporters.
“The other important thing, which we are pushing for with other countries, such as those of the G5 and the European Union, is to ensure that Lebanon can finally elect, after so many years, a new president,
“This would break the stalemate that exists in that country,” Tajani added.
Tajani was speaking to journalists in Bari, on the sidelines of the general assembly of Italy’s main private employers’ association Confindustria on the explosive situation in the Middle East including in Lebanon.
“A new head of state would be capable of negotiating with Israel to reach a ceasefire,” Tajani underlined.
“Do you know what we propose for the ceasefire? A buffer zone under the control of Unifil (the United Nations peacekeeping for in southern Lebanon) therefore the UN and a second buffer zone, across the river, controlled by the regular Lebanese army,” Tajani said.
The Lebanese army is also trained by the Italian army and there is a base in Beirut with is separate from Unifil, Tajani noted.
Lebanon has lacked a president and a fully empowered cabinet since October 2022 due to a power struggle in the country in which Hezbollah has played a major role, causing political paralysis.
Following Israel’s assassination last week of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an air strike, premier Najib Mikati (a Sunni Muslim) parliament speaker Nabih Berri (a key Hezbollah ally) and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt read out a joint statement after a meeting on Wednesday calling for the election of a “consensus president who will reassure everyone and dispel their concerns”.
Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament elects the country’s president. However no single political alliance has enough seats to win a vote outright, meaning rival blocs must agree on a candidate to secure the election of a president.
