Today, Monday, Lebanese President Michel Aoun launched a new attack on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, while the latter saw that there was "no need to respond," while Paris warned Lebanese officials of the consequences of continuing to obstruct finding a solution to the political crisis in the country.

Due to differences between them, Lebanon is unable to form a government to succeed the current caretaker government, headed by Hassan Diab, which resigned on August 10, 6 days after a catastrophic explosion in the port of the capital, Beirut.

In an interview with the Lebanese newspaper, Al-Jumhuriya, Aoun said that Hariri "fell asleep and woke up to a governmental approach that undermines all the rules we are used to adopting in forming governments."

And Hariri has been tasked with forming the government since last October 22, after Mustafa Adib apologized for not forming the government because his mission had faltered, in a country in which the interests of regional and Western countries were in conflict.

18 A meeting between Hariri (right) and Aoun did not succeed in bridging the gap between them and creating a consensual government formation (European News Agency)

Aoun added, "He (Hariri) knows that I am burning (anxious) to form the government, but this does not mean that he has the right to take advantage of my keenness to form it as soon as possible, to impose on me a suitable composition for him and not for the country."

He continued, "For the umpteenth time, I confirm that I do not want the blocking third, and Hariri's accusation of me that I seek it is false."

And the obstructed third means that a political faction obtains a third of the number of ministerial portfolios, which allows it to control its decisions and suspend its meetings.

Aoun added that from his position as president, he can enter (in government decisions), and therefore he has no need for the "blocking third", and asked whether it is reasonable for the president of the republic to suspend himself and his era?

The term refers to Aoun's presidency, which will be a 6-year term that ends in 2022, when he was elected on October 31, 2016, as part of a political deal that also brought Hariri to head the government at the time.

And he saw that Hariri “has finally become an eccentric, as if I do not know him, although I had embraced him and dealt with him like his father, and when I asked him: What happened to you (?) He answered me: You have changed,” and the words cursed.

Message arrived


... no response.

We ask God to have mercy on the Lebanese.

- Saad Hariri (@saadhariri) March 29, 2021

Commenting on Aoun's statement, Hariri made do with tweeting, on Twitter, saying, "The message has arrived .. There is no need to respond. We ask God for mercy on the Lebanese."

Hariri wants to form a government of technocrats, and accuses Aoun of trying to obtain the blocking third for the benefit of his party, the Free Patriotic Movement and its allies, among them Hezbollah.

For more than a year, Lebanon has been suffering the worst economic crisis since the end of the civil war in 1990, exacerbated by the repercussions of the port explosion and the Corona pandemic.

The difficult living conditions push the Lebanese to protest from time to time, demanding the departure of the ruling class, which they accuse of corruption, favoritism and incompetence.

French warning

In a related context, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned today, Monday, senior Lebanese officials that the European Union is currently studying ways to exert pressure on those who stand behind obstructing a solution to the political and economic crisis in the country.

In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said that Le Drian spoke to President Michel Aoun, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to clarify his position.

The statement indicated that Le Drian informed Aoun, Hariri and Berri that the deliberate obstruction of getting out of the political crisis must be ended immediately.

Titanic

In turn, the Lebanese Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri, confirmed, on Monday, that Lebanon is in danger, likening it to the Titanic, and said, "If the country sinks, everyone will drown without exception."

This came during a parliament session, according to a statement issued by Berri's media office, according to the official news agency.

Berri explained, "The whole country is in danger, it is time for us to wake up, because in the end, if the ship sank, no one will remain, and the country will drown, and if it sinks, everyone will drown without exception."