"How can the people choose a president while they are incapable of electing their MPs?" Sfeir asked.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement's Aoun had separately called for direct election by the people of a president.

Sfeir told a delegation of Lebanese newspaper editors "we support a Lebanese solution in the first place, an Arab solution as a second choice and an international solution as a third option."

He explained that the "international solution could be bad for Lebanon, but it cannot fail."

The Maronite Patriarch said "internationalizing the Lebanese crisis could result in finding a solution at Lebanon's expense."

The Syrian "presence in Lebanon, which had been a military presence, has changed into a political presence at present," Sfeir said. In reference to the Hezbollah-led opposition

Meanwhile , another Hezbollah ally , Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh on Tuesday said Sfeir Is employed by the U.S. and French diplomatic missions.

"With due respect to our patriarch he is an employee for the U.S. embassy and for the French embassy," Franjieh told reporters after talks with former president Emile Lahoud.

Asked to comment on the alleged French threat to take the Lebanese crisis to the U.N. Security Council, Franjieh said: "Let them do whatever they want. What would internationalization do? They would bring us another Hamid Karazi. We already have a Hamid Karazi.

"What would they do? They would bring us another one like (Premier Fouad) Siniora?" he asked.

"Let them do what they want to do. Eventually, what is important is that this country would not be settled unless true entente is achieved," he added.

This is not the first time Franjiyeh attacks Sfeir

Syrian-backed Franjieh made what was described as a "rude" remark on Friday Dec 1, 2006 targeting the head of the respected Maronite Church , who criticized the protests by the opposition to topple the government.

Talking to Al Manar TV station, mouthpiece of the Hezbollah organization , Franjieh said Sfeir was "aroused, probably at the sight of women," at his seat in Bkirki Thursday and made a statement opposing street protests, noting that they have failed to settle disputes in Lebanon.

Franjieh is the grandson of former president Suleiman Franjieh who invited the Syrians to Lebanon in 1976

Picture: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Nasrallah Sfeir ( C) Suleiman Franjieh ( R) and Michel Aoun ( L)

sources: Naharnet, Ya Libnan

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