The media office of the Lebanese government formation appointee, Saad Hariri, has denied receiving any official offer from President Michel Aoun regarding the formation of the government. It emphasized that Hariri does not await the approval of any external party to form the cabinet, in reference to Hezbollah’s dependency on Iran for its decisions.
The National News Agency reported on a statement from Hariri's media office in response to an article published by the newspaper "Al-Akhbar," which claimed that President Aoun had informed Major General Abbas Ibrahim (Lebanon's Director of General Security) that he would settle for naming five ministers, in addition to a member from the Tashnaq party in an 18-member government. Furthermore, Aoun insisted on obtaining the Ministry of Interior, demanding that MP Gebran Bassil refrain from granting the government confidence, with the surprise being that President Hariri rejected Aoun's proposal. The media office's statement denied this occurrence, affirming that Hariri did not receive any official communication from President Aoun in this regard, suggesting that those behind leaking such information aim to shift the responsibility for the stalemate from President Aoun and MP Gebran Bassil to Hariri.
The statement noted that, unlike Hezbollah, which always awaits its decision from Iran, Hariri does not require the approval of any external party to form the government; rather, he waits for President Aoun's approval of a cabinet formation of specialists, along with the amendments Hariri publicly proposed in his speech broadcast live on February 14 of last year, rather than through apparently loaded media leaks as seems to be the case today.
The statement considered the correlation between this interpretation propagated by the newspaper about the supposed rejection from Hariri and the remarks of Hezbollah's Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem in his televised interview, specifically featured in "Al-Akhbar" today, as reinforcing the sentiment that Hezbollah is among the parties involved in attempting to place the blame on Hariri.
The statement further accused Hezbollah of maneuvering to prolong the governmental void while awaiting Iran's negotiations with the new U.S. administration, using Lebanon's stability as a card in these negotiations. The media office denied that any party, whether General Ibrahim or others, has informed Hariri that he is officially tasked by the President to convey any offer to him, stressing Hariri's commitment to the government specifications he outlined from the very beginning of his appointment, regarding both the number of ministers and the non-partisan expertise criterion.
The media office emphasized that Hariri "believes that adherence to the French initiative complements the popular demands for a government capable of confronting the economic, financial, and livelihood repercussions, stabilizing the currency, and paving the way for serious reforms to stop the ongoing bleeding."
