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.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.