CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed full support on Wednesday for visiting Lebanese Prime Minister-Designate Saad Al-Hariri in his efforts to form a cabinet and resolve a crippling economic and political crisis.
Lebanon is battling an economic meltdown dubbed by the World Bank as one of the deepest depressions in modern history.
The financial crisis, which has propelled more than half of the population into poverty and seen the value of the currency drop by more than 90 percent in nearly two years, has been deepened by political deadlock.
Egypt holds diplomatic weight in the region and has provided some aid to Lebanon during the crisis. It is allied with Sunni Gulf powers that long channelled funds into Lebanon but have recently become alarmed by the rising influence of the Iran-backed armed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.
Under a sectarian power-sharing system, Lebanon’s president must be a Maronite Christian and the prime minister a Sunni Muslim.
Veteran Sunni politician Hariri has been at loggerheads for months with President Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, over forming a new government. He is due to meet Aoun at the Baabda presidential palace on his return from Cairo.
Earlier on Wednesday, Aoun said he hoped he hoped Hariri would carry “positive indications” to the meeting, adding that efforts were still under way to form a cabinet.
In Egypt, El-Sisi welcomed Hariri, “reaffirming Egypt’s full support for Hariri’s political path which aims at restoring stability to Lebanon,” and for his attempts to deal with challenges including the formation of a government, a presidency statement said.
Amid speculation that Hariri would stand down this week, Egypt urged him not to give up on forming a cabinet, Saudi Arabian state-owned broadcaster Al Hadath said, citing unnamed sources.
Cairo would coordinate Arab efforts to help chart a way out of the crisis, the channel reported.
Hariri also met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who stated Egypt’s support for Lebanon’s “exit from the current situation, and the necessity for all Lebanese parties to prioritize Lebanon’s highest interest over any narrow interests,” according to tweets from Hariri and the Egyptian foreign ministry.
Egypt’s El-Sisi offers support as Lebanon’s Hariri visits Cairo
https://arab.news/wxyea
Egypt’s El-Sisi offers support as Lebanon’s Hariri visits Cairo
- El-Sisi reaffirmed Egypt’s full support for Hariri’s political path which aims at restoring stability to Lebanon
- Egypt urged him not to give up on forming a cabinet
UN votes to end mission in Yemeni city of Hodeida
- The resolution approved Tuesday, which was sponsored by Britain, stipulates that the UN mission in Hodeida — known as UNMHA — must close as of March 31
UNITED NATIONS, United States: The UN Security Council voted Tuesday to terminate a mission that tried to enforce a ceasefire in war-torn Yemen’s port city of Hodeida.
“Houthi obstructionism has left the mission without a purpose, and it has to close,” said Tammy Bruce of the US delegation, one of 13 on the 15 member council to support ending the mission’s mandate.
The UN mission is now scheduled to conclude in two months.
Yemen’s internationally recognized government is a patchwork of groups held together by their opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis, who ousted them from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and now rule much of the country’s north. They also hold Hodeida.
The Houthis have been at war with the government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition since 2015, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
Since 2021 the Houthis have periodically detained UN staffers and still hold some of them.
The resolution approved Tuesday, which was sponsored by Britain, stipulates that the UN mission in Hodeida — known as UNMHA — must close as of March 31. It has been there since 2019.
Russia and China abstained from the vote.
“For six years, UNMHA has served as a critical stabilizing presence” in the region and “actively deterred and prevented a return to full scale conflict,” said Danish representative Christina Markus Lassen.
“The dynamics of the conflict have evolved, and the operating environment has significantly narrowed as UN personnel have become the target of the Houthis’ arbitrary detentions,” Lassen said.
The war in the poorest country in the Arabian peninsula has triggered the worst humanitarian crisis anywhere in the world, the United Nations says.
It expects things to get worse in 2026 as hungry Yemenis find it even harder to get food and international aid drops off.
