On Saturday, Lebanon witnessed a wave of criticism against statements made by Prime Minister Hassan Diab that targeted the Governor of the Banque du Liban Riad Salameh and economic and financial policies adopted by the Levantine country over the past years.
Some considered Diab’s speech as vengeful while others said that the prime minister had attacked Lebanon as a whole, both politically and economically.
“It is the stage of revenge, which they opened against a whole period, and assigned the prime minister to assume the attack,” ex-prime minister Saad Hariri said in a vocal statement against Diab, who is accused of seeking to end the free economic system in Lebanon.
Others like ex-prime ministers Tamam Salam and Fouad Siniora and MP Nouhad al-Mashnouq also attacked Diab for his recent statements from Lebanon’s Dar el-Fatwa.
“Diab’s statement is a continuation of a policy pursued by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement, which formed the government, and it does not target a specific sect, but rather Lebanon as a whole,” sources close to the outspoken former prime ministers told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“Since forming the government, Hezbollah has been trying to seize more control over resources of this country, and here it is using Diab as means to an end,” the sources added.
Commenting on Diab’s statement, Siniora said: “This is not how things are handled, and what is required is to provide real remedies, because there are pressing living conditions; what is required today is the mobilization of citizens to support the process of real reform.”
“How can confidence be restored and we have not solved the judicial formations file? How can we gain the confidence of the Lebanese people, and we have not implemented the electricity law that has been in place for 18 years?” Siniora asked.
MP Mashnouq criticized Diab’s latest statement, pointing to “conspiracies” against the “Sunni community and Sunni politicians.”
“There is a conspiracy against Sunni politics and the Sunni community and we hope that Diab is not part of it,” said Mashnouq in remarks he made from Dar el-Fatwa.
