BEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister designate Saad Al-Hariri on Sunday said that his country could not be rescued from its current crisis without the support of Arab countries and the international community.
Gulf states have long channelled funds into Lebanon’s fragile economy, but they are alarmed by the rising influence of Hezbollah, a powerful group backed by their arch-rival, Iran, and so far appear loath to ease Beirut’s worst financial crisis in decades.
“There is no way out of the crisis ... without a deep reconciliation with our Arab brothers and an end to using the country as a staging point for attacking Gulf countries and threatening their interests,” Hariri said in a televised speech marking 16 years since the assassination of his father, ex-premier Rafik Al-Hariri.
A UN backed tribunal in December convicted a Hezbollah member of conspiring to kill Rafik Al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing. Hezbollah has denied any links to the attack.
Saad Al-Hariri, a former prime minister himself, was given the task of forming a government in October but is struggling so far to cobble together a cabinet to share power with all Lebanese parties, including Hezbollah.
After a meeting with President Michel Aoun on Friday, Hariri said there had been no progress on the formation of a government.
Under a sectarian power-sharing system, Lebanon’s president must be a Maronite Christian and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim. President Aoun is an ally of Hezbollah, listed as a terrorist group by the United States.
On Sunday Hariri blamed Aoun for impeding progress, saying he had visited the president 16 times since his nomination as prime minister and proposed names to no avail.
France has been spearheading efforts to rescue Lebanon from its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
A new government is the first step on a French roadmap that envisages a cabinet that would take steps to tackle endemic corruption and implement reforms needed to trigger billions of dollars of international aid to fix the economy, which has been crushed by a mountain of debt.
“In all my communications there is a readiness and an enthusiasm to help Lebanon, to stop the collapse and rebuild Beirut,” Hariri said.
“But it is all waiting for the push of a button and that button is government formation.”
Lebanon’s Hariri sees no way out of crisis without Arab support
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Lebanon’s Hariri sees no way out of crisis without Arab support
- Lebanon seeks rescue from financial meltdown
- Hariri says Lebanon cannot be staging point for Gulf attacks
Siege on Syria’s Kobani ‘must be lifted immediately’: Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party
- The situation in Kobani had escalated from a crisis into a “deadly catastrophe,” DEM said
- “Both the military and humanitarian siege on Kobani must be lifted as soon as possible,” said Hatimogullari
ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s pro-Kurdish DEM party on Saturday called for the blockade on the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani in northern Syria to be lifted immediately, warning of a “humanitarian tragedy.”
The situation in Kobani had escalated from a crisis into a “deadly catastrophe,” DEM said after sending a delegation to visit northeastern Syria which over the past week has been targeted by a major Syrian military offensive.
The Kurdish-held city, which is also known as Ain Al-Arab, is surrounded by the Turkish border to its north and government forces on all sides.
It lies around 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Kurds’ stronghold in Syria’s far northeast.
“Both the military and humanitarian siege on Kobani must be lifted as soon as possible,” said DEM co-chair Tulay Hatimogullari.
Kurdish forces have withdrawn from areas near Kobani over the past week following pressure from the Syrian military as President Ahmed Al-Sharaa seeks to extend his control across the country.
As the military offensive advanced, residents of surrounding villages flooded into Kobani, where they were now stranded, Hatimogullari said.
“Electricity has been cut off, the Internet is cut off, water is cut off. This is a great humanitarian tragedy,” she told a news conference.
“Guarantor countries.. must urgently carry out their responsibilities to lift the siege on northern and eastern Syria,” she said referring to the US and western allies who for years have thrown their support behind the Kurdish-dominated SDF forces which have been forced out of the area.
