Today, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Amal Movement announced their decision to participate again in the government sessions in order to approve the budget and discuss the economic recovery plan, three months after they boycotted the cabinet sessions due to a dispute over the way to deal with the investigations into the explosion of Beirut port in August 2020.

A joint statement by the two parties stated that their decision to return to the cabinet sessions "aims at approving the 2022 budget and discussing the economic recovery plan."

And Reuters news agency quoted a source within the Lebanese government that it is not expected that a government meeting will be held in the past few weeks, given that the development of the new budget, including the indicators of the financial rescue plan, has not been completed.

blast investigations

The statement added that the Amal Movement and Hezbollah confirm their continued work to correct the judicial path in the file of the Beirut Port explosion, and demand the executive authority to move to remove the obstacles that hinder the formation of a parliamentary investigation committee into the explosion.

1/3 The Media Office of the Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, issued the following statement: His


Excellency the Prime Minister welcomes the statement issued by the Amal Movement and Hezbollah regarding the return to participation in the sessions of the Council of Ministers, which coincides with the repeated calls made by his state for the participation of all…

— Presidency of the Council of Ministers 🇱🇧 (@grandserail) January 15, 2022

In their statement, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement indicated that their boycott of the government's actions was due to "the unconstitutional steps taken by the judicial investigator in the Beirut Port bombing case, gross legal violations, discretion, open politicization, lack of justice and lack of respect for the unity of standards."

The statement said that the suspension of Hezbollah and the Amal movement from their participation in the Council of Ministers was a "political and constitutional step, aimed at prompting the relevant executive authorities to give this issue utmost care in order to bring justice to the oppressed and to pay off suspicions and to fulfill the right," referring to the work of Judge Tariq Al-Bitar, who is in charge of the Port investigation. Beirut.

It is noteworthy that the ministers of the Amal Movement and Hezbollah had demanded, in the last session held by the government, on October 12, that the judicial investigative judge, Tariq Al-Bitar, stop accusing him of politicizing the investigation.

International Monetary

The failure to hold government meetings led to the postponement of discussions on a financial support program between the Lebanese authorities and the International Monetary Fund, which is a basic plan for obtaining the necessary international aid to get Lebanon out of the economic crisis it is experiencing.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati had previously said that he was seeking to conclude a preliminary agreement next month with the International Monetary Fund regarding the support program, while a spokesman for the Fund stated that basic discussions would take place with the Lebanese authorities in the last week of this month.