Hizbullah on Monday voiced hope that the newly elected French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will have a "more balanced" approach to Lebanon's political crisis, while the governing coalition wished for continued backing from Paris.
According to the AP, Hizbullah welcomed the election results and called on the new leader to adopt decisions that "are more appropriate with French national interests, and consequently less biased toward one party against the other." "We hope that the French president will have the vision for a more influential role through being more balanced" in his policies, Nawaf Moussawi, head of international relations at Hizbullah, said in a statement.
Syria also congratulated Sarkozy. President Bashar Assad in a telegram expressed hopes that relations between Syria and France, which have been marred for the past two years, "would develop for the two countries' interests," Syria's state-run news agency reported.
Within minutes of the official results, Lebanese prominent legislator Saad Hariri also sent a message of congratulations to Sarkozy, expressing confidence that historic ties will continue to develop.
