Lebanon's prime minister forms new government without Hezbollah dominance
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam on Saturday formed a new cabinet made up of specialized and clean-handed ministers, ending past dominance by Hezbollah and its allies, with the mission of introducing needed reforms and securing Israel's complete withdrawal from south Lebanon.
After a meeting with President Joseph Aoun at the Presidential Palace, Salam announced his 24-member government, saying that reform was the "only path" to rescue the war-ravaged and crisis-ridden country.
He said the government needs to ensure security and stability in Lebanon to achieve desired reforms, by completing the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 and the U.S.-brokered cease-fire agreement that ended 14 months of a destructive war between Hezbollah and Israel on Nove. 27.
The war, which started in October 2023 in support of Gaza, greatly weakened Hezbollah, with Israel killing its top leaders and destroying its military infrastructure.
After the cease-fire's 60-day deadline expired and Israel refused to complete the pullout of its forces from southern Lebanon, the deadline was extended to Feb. 18.
While Israel argued that the Lebanese Army has been slow in redeploying and Hezbollah still maintains its military presence in areas prohibited by the agreement, Lebanon has accused the Israeli military of procrastinating its troop withdrawal.
Salam pledged to follow up on Israel's withdrawal "to the last inch of Lebanese territory."
Israeli forces still occupy parts of southern Lebanon and continue to launch airstrikes, destroying houses and demolishing border villages. He also vowed to move forward with financial and economic reforms, emphasizing the need for establishing "an independent judiciary."
Power-sharing system
Lebanon has been facing a deep, compounded financial and economic crisis since October 2019 that resulted in soaring poverty and unemployment, the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, most of its sectors struggling and people left with few hours of electricity per day and their savings lost to the banks.
The new government came to light after Salam, who was nominated to head the new government on Jan. 13, completed three weeks of discussions with the country's rival political parties, especially Hezbollah and its Shiite Amal Movement headed by its main ally, House Speaker Nabih Berri.
The duo was allowed to nominate only four out of five Shiite ministers for the new Cabinet, depriving them from the power of vetoing government decisions that require a two-thirds vote.
Under Lebanon's unique power-sharing system, government posts are distributed among the various Muslim and Christian sects to secure proper representation of the country's different communities.
The U.S. has clearly opposed any Hezbollah participation in the new cabinet. On Friday, visiting U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said that Salam was to ensure that Hezbollah, which was defeated by Israel, will not be part of his government "in any form."
Cabinet makeup
Regardless of the "red lines" set by Washington, this was the first time in 15 years that Hezbollah "is not officially represented" in the cabinet and does not have "a veto power" to obstruct the government decisions, according to Antoine Haddad, a political researcher and vice president of the St. George University of Beirut.
Haddad explained that the past cabinets allowed Hezbollah "not only to have the military power, and the power of intimidating the other parties but also to control the state institutions.
"Hezbollah lost its hegemony inside the cabinet and the number of its allies diminished to four ministers," he told UPI, noting that three of the four ministers hold the U.S. nationality and two of them work at the American University in Beirut.
"These four personalities will not take decisions in favor of Hezbollah," he argued.
He emphasized that Salam's cabinet "made a qualitative change" by including ministers with legal and diplomatic experience such as Tarek Mitri, who served as the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary General between 2012 and 2014, and Ghassan Salame, an emeritus professor of international relations at Sciences Po Paris and a former UN Special envoy for Libya.
Five women were also named in the cabinet in a first such high number of female representation.
Setup supported
To Kassem Kassir, a political analyst who specializes in Islamic movements and is close to Hezbollah, the formation of the new government was "a step in the right direction" and prevented "a confrontation" with Hezbollah.
Kassir highlighted the fact that Salam and President Aoun and "dealt in a positive way" with Hezbollah, by allowing it to select or approve some of the Shiite ministers.
With Lebanon facing numerous internal and external challenges, he said priority goes for the cease-fire agreement with Israel, reconstruction of war-ravaged areas, the clashes that recently broke out on the Syrian-Lebanese border, as well as the political, financial and economic reforms.
"The cabinet's first challenge will be on Feb. 18, in case Israel does not pull out from southern Lebanon," Kassir told UPI, warning that Hezbollah which committed not to retaliate to Israel's violations would resort to supporting popular resistance.
Najat Saliba, who was among 84 legislators in the 128-member parliament who named Salam to the prime minister post, hailed "as a big achievement" the formation of the new cabinet "in a speedy way," after the process used to take months and even over a year because of political disputes.
"However, we would have liked to see less involvement of the conventional parties and the political elite, and more of the independent ministers," Saliba told UPI, expressing confidence in Salam's "wisdom and willingness to put the country on the path of reform."
Salam, a jurist who served as Lebanon's permanent representative to the U.N. from 2007 to 2017, resigned his post as president of the International Court of Justice to become Lebanon's new PM.
Saliba said the political parties have no choice "but to follow the change" that started with the election of 13 "change" candidates, herself included, to the Parliament in the May 2022 followed by the election of President Aoun on Jan. 9, the nomination of Salam as prime minister and now the formation of the new government.
"The path to change has started and we will continue to force it forward ... there is no choice," Saliba said.
But the Lebanese will have to wait until the next Parliamentary elections in May 2026 when the "real reforms could start," according to Haddad, the political analyst. "At least now, what the cabinet can do is to stop and prevent corruption, with the hope that the next parliamentary elections will result in better representation to proceed with a full reform program," he said.
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