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Hariri Resignation

Lebanon in freefall as France announces aid conference

Lebanese soldiers take cover behind their shields amid clashes with supporters of Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who stepped down on Thursday, saying he was unable to form a government. (Credit: AFP)

BEIRUT — Lebanon faced yet more misery on Friday after the failure of former Premier-designate Saad Hariri to establish a government, and as France prepares to host an aid conference on the first anniversary of the country’s port blast.

Hariri’s exit on Thursday comes amid a financial downturn branded by the World Bank as likely one of the planet’s worst since the mid-19th century.

His departure leaves the country rudderless as Lebanon faces soaring poverty, a plummeting currency, renewed street protests and shortages of basic items from medicine to fuel.

In a sign of what’s to come, Health Minister Hamad Hassan said on Friday the government would scrap subsidies on medicines costing less than LL12,000 to shore up foreign currency reserves.

“Lebanon, toward more danger,” read a headline on the front page of the country’s Annahar newspaper on Friday.

“With Hariri out, a worsening crisis is inevitable,” said L'Orient Today’s sister publication, L’Orient-Le Jour.

France, a former colonial power in Lebanon that has spearheaded international efforts to lift the country out of crisis, said on Friday it would host an aid conference on Aug. 4.

This coincides with the first anniversary of a vast explosion at the Beirut port that killed more than 200 people and leveled swathes of the capital.

The conference, organized with the United Nations, aims to “respond to the needs of the Lebanese, whose situation is deteriorating every day,” France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

World powers have pledged millions of dollars in humanitarian aid since last year’s port blast, but made the money conditional on installing a government capable of tackling corruption.

Even as international pressure mounted, with the European Union saying it had agreed on a sanctions regime against Lebanese leaders, political squabbling has repeatedly stymied efforts to form a government.

The French Foreign Ministry said Hariri’s failure to form a government “confirms the political deadlock [that] ... Lebanese leaders have deliberately continued for months, even as Lebanon sinks into unprecedented economic and social crisis.”

Political wrangling

After nine months of deliberations with President Michel Aoun over a cabinet lineup, Hariri threw in the towel on Thursday.

He accused Aoun of seeking a share in government that would give his supporters a “blocking third” of seats — effectively a veto — a charge the president has denied.

“If I formed the government that Michel Aoun wanted ... I wouldn't have been able to run the country, because this isn’t a cabinet I can work with,” Hariri told Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV after he stepped down.

Aoun will now have to call on Parliament to pick a new premier-designate, who will be tasked with assembling a cabinet that in turn will have to be approved by the president and political factions.

This takes the political process back to square one. Lebanese media have warned of many more months of drift, a delay the country can ill afford.

With cabinet berths and parliamentary seats distributed according to confessional quotas, negotiations will be further complicated by the exit of Hariri, widely seen as the pivotal representative of the country’s Sunni Muslims.

Media reports have circulated the name of former Premier Najib Mikati, who was last in power in 2014, as a likely favorite to replace Hariri.

The newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Friday that Mikati, a fellow Sunni Muslim, “is the most likely option.”

But Hariri has already said he would not endorse Mikati’s candidacy.

‘Self-destruction’

Hariri, who has previously led three governments in Lebanon, is the second candidate to fail at forming a government in less than a year.

He had been nominated prime minister–designate in October 2020 to replace Mustapha Adib, a relatively unknown diplomat.

Adib had been nominated just weeks after the port explosion, but quit less than a month later over resistance to his proposed lineup.

Outgoing Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who resigned in the wake of the Aug. 4 explosion, has stayed on in a caretaker capacity until political leaders can agree on a new premier.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Lebanon’s “political class has squandered the last nine months.”

France’s top diplomat, Jean-Yves Le Drian, accused political leaders of “cynical self-destruction.”

The lira, officially pegged at LL1,507.5 to the US dollar, plunged to new lows on the black market following Hariri’s announcement, selling for more than LL22,000 to the greenback.

The currency crash sparked roadblocks and protests on Thursday night amid growing anger against a ruling class long accused of negligence and corruption.

BEIRUT — Lebanon faced yet more misery on Friday after the failure of former Premier-designate Saad Hariri to establish a government, and as France prepares to host an aid conference on the first anniversary of the country’s port blast.

Hariri’s exit on Thursday comes amid a financial downturn branded by the World Bank as likely one of the...