Hariri: Cabinet Crisis is an Internal, not Regional Issue

Hariri speaks during a conference at Chatham House in central London on December 13, 2018. Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
Hariri speaks during a conference at Chatham House in central London on December 13, 2018. Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
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Hariri: Cabinet Crisis is an Internal, not Regional Issue

Hariri speaks during a conference at Chatham House in central London on December 13, 2018. Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP
Hariri speaks during a conference at Chatham House in central London on December 13, 2018. Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP

Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri has hoped that his national unity government would be formed by the end of the year.

“I think we are in the last 100 meters of forming the government,” Hariri said Friday during a Q&A session at the Chatham House think tank in London.

“We are getting there, it’s not a regional issue, it’s an internal issue, it’s because the equation changed a little bit in parliament and some people want more. I believe that most of the obstacles were solved, there is still one obstacle and I am sure that we will be able to resolve it,” he said in response to a question.

Hariri has refused to grant six Hezbollah-backed independent Sunni MPs a representative in the cabinet for not making up a coherent political bloc.

He stressed that “Lebanon cannot afford to continue without a government that can protect it from regional turmoil and economic downfall.”

The PM-designate reiterated the importance of overcoming political differences among Lebanon’s different factions.

“Hezbollah is not going to change my mind on Iran and I am not going to change its mind on Saudi Arabia,” stressed Hariri. “So we decided to put our regional differences aside.”

Hariri told the audience that Riyadh will back Lebanon through several agreements that are set to be announced once the new cabinet is formed.

“You will see Saudi Arabia taking some serious steps towards Lebanon and helping economically.”

At the CEDRE conference that was held in Paris last April, Saudi Arabia committed one billion dollars, he said.

“Our strategy is to invest in infrastructure, prepare Lebanon to be a platform so that big companies … would invest in Lebanon or make Lebanon a hub for reconstruction in Syria, in Iraq and even in Libya,” Hariri stated.

He reiterated the importance of sticking to Lebanon’s dissociation policy, saying the new government will continue to abide by it.



Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
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Hegseth Keeps 2 Aircraft Carriers in Middle East for Another Week for Battle with Yemen’s Houthis

Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is moored near Split, Croatia, Feb. 14, 2022. (AP)

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East for a second time, keeping it there another week so the US can maintain two carrier strike groups in the region to battle Yemen-based Houthi militias, according to a US official.

In late March, Hegseth extended the deployment of the Truman and the warships in its group for a month as part of a campaign to increase strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis. The official said Hegseth signed the latest order Thursday and it is expected the Truman and its strike group warships will head home to Norfolk, Virginia, after the week is up.

Gen. Erik Kurilla, head of US Central Command, requested that the Truman be extended again, according to officials. The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its strike group arrived in the region a few weeks ago and are operating in the Gulf of Aden. The Truman, along with two destroyers and a cruiser in its strike group, is in the Red Sea.

The officials spoke Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

The US has increased its attacks on the Houthis, launching daily strikes since March 15, when President Donald Trump ordered a new, expanded campaign. He promised to use "overwhelming lethal force" until the Houthis stop their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a vital trade corridor.

According to Central Command, the US has been waging an "intense and sustained campaign" against the Houthis. In a statement over the weekend, the command said the US has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen since Operation Rough Rider began. It hasn't provided details on the targets or how the data is compiled.

It has been rare in recent years for the US to have two aircraft carriers in the Middle East at the same time. Navy leaders have generally been opposed to the idea because it disrupts ship maintenance schedules and delays time at home for sailors strained by the unusually high combat tempo.

If there are no additional extensions and the Truman and its warships leave the region next week, those sailors could be back home by next month.

Last year, the Biden administration ordered the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier to remain in the Red Sea for an extended time as US warships waged the most intense running sea battle since World War II. Prior to that, it had been years since the US had committed that much warship power to the Middle East.

The Houthis had been waging persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group's leadership has described as an effort to end Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

From November 2023 until this January, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The group paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the militants in mid-March.