Egypt spy chief meets Aoun and Berri, reportedly seeking Gaza-like deal

Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Mahmoud Rashad met Tuesday in Lebanon with President Joseph Aoun and Speaker Nabih Berri.

The Presidency said Aoun and Egypt’s intelligence head discussed “how to leverage the atmosphere of the Gaza deal and the Sharm el-Sheikh summit to expand it to include Lebanon.”

“Rashad expressed his country’s readiness to help consolidate stability in the South and end the turbulent security situation in it,” the Presidency added, noting that Aoun “welcomed any Egyptian effort to help halt the Israeli attacks on Lebanon and restore stability in it.”

“The Egyptian intelligence chief put President Aoun in the picture of the efforts that were exerted in Gaza and expressed Egypt’s readiness to help establish stability in Lebanon,” Al-Jadeed television reported.

Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Alaa Moussa earlier expressed great optimism about Lebanon's future in an interview with An-Nahar newspaper, saying: "I am extremely optimistic about this country's future, because Lebanon deserves the best, and it will be better, God willing."

Rashad had met days ago with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A political source told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that the Egyptian intelligence chief is “not carrying an Israeli message,” adding that “depicting the visit in this manner is an underestimation of the Arab role represented by Egypt.”

“The Egyptian initiative toward Lebanon is backed by Saudi Arabia and aimed at crystallizing a vision supportive of Lebanon through finding an executive mechanism for the negotiation principle that would be similar to what was adopted for the Gaza agreement,” the source said.

“The visit also seeks to explore the possibility of holding a conference in Sharm el-Sheikh or in the city of Riyadh to sign a peace treaty, and this requires a clear Lebanese commitment to implement everything that the new authorities in Lebanon had committed to in terms of the Lebanese state’s sovereignty over its entire territory through its legitimate forces and as to monopolizing the war and peace decisions in its hand exclusively,” the source added.

“Any proposed Arab solution would be based on committing to the Arab decision, away from Lebanese alleyways and side agreements,” the source went on to say, warning that “the grace period granted to Lebanon is about to finish.”