Lebanese President Michel Aoun did not intend to revoke prime minister designate Saad al-Hariri s mandate when he wrote to parliament last week declaring that Hariri could not form a government, Aoun .
Amid political and economic crises, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri says he will not form a Cabinet simply catering to the president's wishes.
22 May 2021 - 16:15
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri speaks during a parliament meeting at UNESCO Palace in Beirut, Lebanon May 22, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Reuters
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun did not intend to revoke prime minister-designate Saad Hariri s mandate when he wrote to parliament last week declaring that Hariri could not form a government, Aoun s son-in-law said on Saturday.
Veteran Sunni Muslim politician Hariri was nominated in October to form a cabinet after Hassan Diab s government resigned in the wake of the Beirut port explosion which killed 200 people and damaged large swathes of the capital.
But Hariri and Aoun have been at loggerheads for months over cabinet positions, blocking the formation of a government. Diab and his cabinet have stayed on in a caretaker capacity, but investors worry that without a new government in place, reforms cannot be enacted to end a financial crisis.
Lebanon s foreign minister resigns after TV interview During a televised interview, Charbel Wehbe drew a link between the wealthy Gulf states and the rise of the Islamic State. Lebanese Foreign Minister Charbel Wehbe (R) welcomes Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L), while mask-clad due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, at Lebanon s Foreign Ministry headquarters in the capital Beirut Aug. 14, 2020. - ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images
May 20, 2021
Lebanese Defense Minister Zeina Akar was named acting foreign minister on Wednesday after Lebanon‘s former top diplomat resigned over incendiary comments he made about Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region’s role in the rise of the Islamic State.