Assad ally declares candidacy for president

Lebanon arrests ex-MP in Gaddafi kidnap case

BEIRUT, Dec 18, (RTRS): A family friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he will stand for Lebanon’s presidency, a post that has been vacant for more than 18 months.

Lebanese lawmaker Suleiman Franjieh announced his candidacy late on Thursday in an interview on LBCI television, voicing confidence in a power-sharing proposal that would put him in the top role and make Sunni Muslim politician Saad al-Hariri prime minister.

That arrangement, widely discussed in Lebanese media but until now not formally announced, could revive government institutions paralysed by political rivalries that have been heightened by the war in neighbouring Syria.

Lebanon’s presidency is reserved for a Maronite Christian, and Franjieh has faced competition for the post from other leading Christian figures, notably Michel Aoun, an ally of the powerful Iran-backed Shi’ite movement Hezbollah.

“I am a candidate for the presidency, more than any time before,” Franjieh said.

Meanwhile, Lebanese authorities have arrested a former lawmaker in connection with the mysterious kidnapping of Hannibal Gaddafi, the high-rolling son of the late Libyan dictator, a security source told AFP Friday.

Intelligence services brought in former MP Hassan Yaacoub for questioning around 11:00 am local time (0900 GMT) on Thursday as part of their investigation into the brief kidnapping of Gaddafi, the security source said. Whirling dervishes perform on the 742nd anniversary of the death of Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi, in Konya, Turkey on Dec 17. Sufi whirling performance of the Mevlevi order is part of a formal ceremony

known as the Sama. (AP)