HEZBOLLAH CHIEF SAYS OPEN TO NEW LEBANON PACT

Beirut, Aug. 30: Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah on Sunday said that his Shiite movement is “open” to a French proposal for a new political pact for Lebanon as long as there is national consensus.

“On his latest visit to Lebanon, we heard a call from the French president for a new political pact in Lebanon... today we are open to a constructive discussion in this regard,” Nasrallah said in a speech.

“But we have one condition: this discussion should be carried out... with the will and consent of the various Lebanese factions.”

Nasrallah did not elaborate on what kind of changes his movement was willing to consider but cited criticsm from “official French sources” over Lebanon’s “sect-based political system and its inability to solve Lebanon’s problems and respond to its needs.”

Lebanon recognises 18 official religious sects and its 128 parliamentary seats are divided equally between Muslims and Christians, an arrangement unique in the region.

However, governments born out of this system have been prone to deadlock and have failed to meet popular demands for better living conditions.

Macron, the first world leader to visit Lebanon after the devastating August 4 Beirut port blast, will return on Monday to press for reform and reconstruction. On his earlier visit days after the blast, the French president said Lebanese leaders had a “huge” responsibility: “that of a revamped pact with the Lebanese people in the coming weeks, that of deep change.”