Lebanese member of parliament Jean Obeid dies of Covid-19

Former minister is the second Lebanese MP to die from coronavirus-related complications

Jean Obeid died of complications from coronavirus. AFP

Lebanese member of parliament Jean Obeid died from Covid-19 at the age of 82, state media reported on Monday.
The former minister is the second MP to die of Covid-related complications.

The country's oldest MP Michel Murr died a week ago.
Obeid, an independent MP, served as representative for Tripoli, the capital of the north, after the end of the civil war from 1992 until 2000.
A former journalist once seen as a strong contender for the presidency, Obeid served as education minister from 1996 to 1998 and as foreign minister from 2003 to 2004.
In 2018, he ran on former prime minister Najib Mikati's candidate list in Tripoli and returned to Parliament.

Mr Mikati described him as a veteran diplomat and moderate politician who sought to bring the Lebanese together "without deviating from the national and political convictions that he believed in and fought for."
"At the height of the war, he was the link between various Lebanese leaders, Lebanon and its Arab surrounding," Mr Mikati said in reference to Obeid's role in trying to bridge the gap between the country's warring parties.
Obeid served as an adviser to President Elias Sarkis from 1978 to 1982 and to President Amin Gemayel from 1983 to 1987.