Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi allegedly will not hesitate in calling for protests and civil disobedience over the ongoing presidential deadlock, urging the U.S. administration in a letter to facilitate the matter in cooperation with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia. According to As Safir newspaper published on Friday, al-Rahi expressed readiness a day before during a meeting with the Maronite institutions to call for wide protests led by the church.

 

“Al-Rahi will call for nationwide protests… and civil disobedience if the ongoing vacuum remains,” sources told the newspaper. Lebanon has been plunged into a leadership vacuum after Michel Suleiman’s presidential term ended on May 25 with rival political blocs still divided over a new leader. Over the past two months the parliament convened five times to try to elect a successor to Suleiman but failed during the last four sessions due to a lack of quorum. [Link]