(dpa) - Lebanon's Muslim Sunni Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani warned Thursday that Lebanon is "at the crossroads", and urged speedy election of General Michel Suleiman as president.
Electing the army commander to the nation's top post should be the "launching pad for dialogue among the various Lebanese parties," Qabbani said in a statement.
He urged the various Lebanese factions to "bolster national unity, for it safeguards against wars from which the Lebanese have suffered."
The most senior Sunni cleric also urged the Lebanese to "benefit from Arab support, especially Saudi and Egyptian support, to settle the Lebanese crisis."
The Arab initiative, he said, "is the only settlement."
Lebanon has been passing through its worst political crisis since the country's civil war ended in 1975-1990. The country has been without a president since the term of former pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud's term ended in November 23, 2007.
The country is currently divided between the anti-Syrian majority which is backed by the west and most Arab countries and the opposition led by Hezbollah, which is supported by Iran and Syria.