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

BEIRUT, March 3 (Reuters) - ‌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 Iran-backed 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.

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.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam and Timour Azhari; Editing by Bill ‌Berkrot)

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