Michel Aoun...a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
and
Samir Geagea... Geagea was imprisoned by the Syrians and their puppets for 11 years in a dungeon in the third basement level of the Lebanese Ministry of Defense. He was released after the Cedar Revolution in 2005 ...
, who fought each other in the dying years of the 1975-90 civil war, are both candidates for the Lebanese presidency that has been vacant since Michel Suleiman
...before assuming office as President, he held the position of commander of the Leb Armed Forces. That was after the previous commander, the loathesome Emile Lahoud, took office as president in November of 1998. Likely the next president of Leb will be whoever's commander of the armed forces, too...
's term expired a year ago.
The post is reserved for a Maronite Christian according to the country's sectarian power-sharing system.
Their meeting at Aoun's house in Rabieh north of Beirut seems unlikely to yield a breakthrough: agreement on a new
president is widely seen as requiring a broader deal backed by rival regional states Iran and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
.
The leaders issued a joint statement calling for the election of "a strong president" accepted by the Christian community and capable of reassuring Leb's other sects.
The presidential vacuum is part of a wider crisis fuelled by the war in neighbouring Syria that has paralysed much of the state and triggered spasms of deadly violence.
A government formed in February 2013 with Saudi-Iranian blessing has spared Leb from a complete vacuum in the executive arm. But that government has struggled to take even basic decisions. Parliament barely functions.