Lebanon to delay May elections due to conflict with Israel, officials say

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s leaders have agreed on a plan to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for May and to extend parliament’s term by two years after the resumption of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah this week and growing war in the Middle East, two senior Lebanese officials said.

The sources said Lebanon’s president, prime minister and parliament speaker had agreed on the move on Tuesday. It would still require the approval of a majority of Lebanon’s 128-member legislature.

Lebanon, which last held parliamentary polls in 2022, has been pulled into the war in the Middle East, with Hezbollah on Tuesday launching missiles at Israel for a second consecutive day and Israel sending troops into the south and carrying out waves of airstrikes.

READ MORE: Israel strikes Beirut’s southern suburbs after Hezbollah attacks

The theatre for numerous conflicts between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon was drawn into the spillover from the war between the United States, Israel and Iran on Monday, when Hezbollah opened fire with drones and missiles.

With dozens of people killed in retaliatory Israeli strikes, Hezbollah’s move to enter the conflict has sharpened long-standing divisions in Lebanon over its status as an armed group - the only Lebanese faction to keep its weapons after the 1975-90 civil war.

“It does not appear that conditions will be conducive to holding elections for some time,” one of the officials said.