Lebanon’s Cabinet Formation Drags

Geagea met with Hariri on Wednesday night/NNA
Geagea met with Hariri on Wednesday night/NNA
TT

Lebanon’s Cabinet Formation Drags

Geagea met with Hariri on Wednesday night/NNA
Geagea met with Hariri on Wednesday night/NNA

A new round of talks kicked off by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to remove obstacles hindering the formation of his new government failed to come up with positive outcomes in the first hours after launching the consultations.

A meeting that Hariri held with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday, and expected talks between him and the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jubmlat, do not imply that the PM can present a draft line-up to President Michel Aoun anytime soon.

Both the PSP and the LF are holding onto their demands for specific shares in the cabinet while the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, refuses to offer any concessions to break the deadlock.

Furthermore, Bassil is exerting additional political pressure on Hariri by proposing a time limit for government formation and even hinting onto the PM-designate giving up his task if he fails to overcome the obstacles.

Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that talks between Hariri and Geagea tackled the political and economic threats to the government formation rather than mulling new ideas on ending the current stalemate.

“No tangible progress would been seen with regard to the government formation as long as those obstructing it insist on minimizing the role of the LF and the PSP,” head of LF communications and media department Charles Jabbour told Asharq Al-Awsat on Thursday.

Jabbour explained that the main obstacle is Bassil.

With regard to the study presented by caretaker Justice Minister Salim Jreissati to force Hariri to abide by a deadline in his cabinet formation efforts, sources close to the PM-designate said no one other than Hariri would be able to form the government.

The deadlock revolves mainly around demands made by Jumblat’s PSP and the LF, which have been dubbed as the problems of the Druze and Christian representation in the new government. 

Hariri has limited choices with regards to the LF representation. President Michel Aoun is holding onto the positions of the deputy prime minister and the defense ministry, while his son-in-law Bassil has rejected to give the LF a cabinet seat from the FPM’s share.

As for the Druze representation, Jumblat is asking for all three cabinet seats designated for his sect, while the FPM wants to grant its ally Druze MP Talal Arslan a share in the government.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
TT

Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.