BEIRUT: Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has postponed by a week consultations aimed at choosing a prime minister to form a new government to tackle the country’s worst economic crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war, the presidency said on Wednesday.
Aoun had been due to hold the consultations on Thursday and was expected to assess whether Sunni Muslim leader Saad Al-Hariri could rally support of a majority of parliamentarians to try to form a new government.
However two prominent Christian politicians had indicated in the last 24 hours that they had reservations about nominating Hariri, who resigned as prime minister a year ago after mass protests.
The country has plunged into financial turmoil and seen the value of the Lebanese pound collapse. The COVID-19 pandemic and a huge explosion at Beirut’s port two months ago compounded the crisis and pushed many Lebanese into poverty.
French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed a roadmap that could unlock billions of dollars of international aid, conditional on major reforms which Hariri pledged to support.
The Lebanese presidency said Aoun was delaying the planned consultations on nominating a new premier until Oct. 22, citing requests “from some parliamentary blocs due to difficulties emerging that need to be solved.”
However, the head of the Shiite Amal party and parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri opposes any delay in the consultations, his office said in a statement released minutes after the presidency’s announcement.
Earlier on Wednesday Samir Geagea, whose Lebanese Forces party has the second biggest Christian bloc in parliament, said the party would not nominate anyone to be the new prime minister at official consultations to fill the post.
On Tuesday Gebran Bassil, who heads the country’s largest Christian bloc, the Free Patriotic Movement and its allies, criticized Hariri for seeking to form a government pledged to implement Macron’s plan.
Lebanon’s president postpones talks on nominating new prime minister
https://arab.news/w6szz
Lebanon’s president postpones talks on nominating new prime minister
- Aoun had been due to hold the consultations on Thursday
- He was expected to assess whether Saad Al-Hariri could rally support of a majority of parliamentarians to try to form a new government
Israel police to deploy around Al-Aqsa for Ramadan, Palestinians report curbs
- The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint
JERUSALEM: Israeli police said Monday that they would deploy in force around the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this week, as Palestinian officials accused Israel of imposing restrictions at the compound.
Over the course of the month of fasting and prayer, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al-Aqsa — Islam’s third-holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed.
Arad Braverman, a senior Jerusalem police officer, said forces would be deployed “day and night” across the compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, and in the surrounding area.
He said thousands of police would also be on duty for Friday prayers, which draw the largest crowds of Muslim worshippers.
Braverman said police had recommended issuing 10,000 permits for Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, who require special permission to enter Jerusalem.
He did not say whether age limits would apply, adding that the final number of people would be decided by the government.
The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said in a separate statement it had been informed that permits would again be restricted to men over 55 and women over 50, mirroring last year’s criteria.
It said Israeli authorities had blocked the Islamic Waqf — the Jordanian?run body administering the site — from carrying out routine preparations, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics.
A Waqf source confirmed the restrictions and said 33 of its employees had been barred from entering the compound in the week before Ramadan.
The Al-Aqsa compound is a central symbol of Palestinian identity and also a frequent flashpoint.
Under long?standing arrangements, Jews may visit the compound — which they revere as the site of their second temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD — but they are not permitted to pray there.
Israel says it is committed to maintaining this status quo, though Palestinians fear it is being eroded.
Braverman reiterated Monday that no changes were planned.
In recent years, a growing number of Jewish ultranationalists have challenged the prayer ban, including far?right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir, who prayed at the site while serving as national security minister in 2024 and 2025.
