Tunisia Likely to Establish National Unity Government

Tunisian parliament (File photo: AFP)
Tunisian parliament (File photo: AFP)
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Tunisia Likely to Establish National Unity Government

Tunisian parliament (File photo: AFP)
Tunisian parliament (File photo: AFP)

Tunisian President Kais Saied has held a series of consultations with parliamentary blocs to form a new government, which will most likely bring together the country’s different factions.

The national unity cabinet will include Ennahda Movement which several parties had sought to marginalize by rejecting to give their vote of confidence to a government led by its candidate for the premiership, Habib Jamali.

Jamali formed a government of independent figures with no links to the political parties that had won the parliamentary elections. But his line-up did not receive the support of a number of political parties.

Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi called on Ennahda to adopt dialogue with different factions to overcome historic differences that do not serve any political party.

Ghannouchi was speaking during the inauguration of Ennahda’s fourth youth conference.

Saied is expected to decide on the new Prime Minister-designate after meetings that included Hakim Ben Hammouda and Fadhel Abdelkef, both of whom are supported and nominated by a number of parliamentary blocs.

Observers believe the ongoing meetings indicate that the competition for the premiership has been limited to Ben Hammouda and Abdelkefi, two experts on the economy, which will be the next government’s top priority.

They assert the President may back Ben Hammouda to form the cabinet, while keeping all other options open.

Ben Hammouda revealed he presented his vision for the government program, pointing out that the main challenge in Tunisia is to rebuild the social contract.

He reviewed six major transformations through which the social contract can be reconstructed, stressing the importance of setting active policies to limit marginalization and poverty, and restore hope for Tunisians.

Abdelkefi was named by Jamali to assume the Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation (MDICI) in the government that failed to win the parliamentary vote of confidence. He also assumed the same post in the government of former Prime Minister Youssef Chahed

The President also met with Elyes Fakhfakh, candidate of the Democratic Current, led by Mohamed Abbou, and Tahya Tounes, led by Chahed. 



US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.