Hariri Says He's not a Candidate but Berri Insists on Nominating Him

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Hariri Says He's not a Candidate but Berri Insists on Nominating Him

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri speaks during a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

French President Emmanuel Macron's second visit to Lebanon's capital next Monday represents the final opportunity for the main political components to prove their readiness to move forward with the necessary reforms and the formation of a new government that would be able to adopt an efficient rescue plan.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in anticipation of Macron’s arrival in Beirut, issued a series of warnings, stating that the Lebanese state “will disappear” unless the parties “respond to the return of international interest in their country after an interruption that lasted for years.”

“The risk today is of Lebanon disappearing so these measures have to be taken,” Le Drian told RTL radio on Thursday.

Talking about Lebanon’s political class, he said: “They are caught up between themselves in a consensus of inactivity…That can’t go on and we are saying that very clearly.”

The French minister wanted to raise the alarm, warning against taking the country into a void, and calling on the parties to soften their position and benefit from the assistance that Macron is personally sponsoring, by giving priority to forming a government whose mission remains limited to implementing the road map to save the country from the economic and financial collapse.

Meanwhile, sources noted that President Michel Aoun is ignoring the tragedy that struck Beirut as a result of the explosion on Aug. 4 and was trying to pretend that the situation was still under control, even though his political power has drastically declined and the Free Patriotic Movement is suffering from isolation in the Christian street.

Meanwhile, the country’s former prime ministers, including Saad Hariri, Fouad Siniora, Najib Mikati and Tamam Salam, met on Wednesday evening and agreed on Aoun’s need to hold the binding parliamentary consultations before nominating a prime minister.

Earlier this week, Hariri announced that he was not a candidate to head the new government, urging all parties to withdraw his name from the ongoing deliberations.

However, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Speaker Nabih Berri was insisting on nominating Hariri as prime minister, despite the latter’s rejection to assume the post. The sources noted that Berri was putting forward Hariri’s name during his negotiations with other political components.



Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
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Israel Wipes Out 29 Lebanese Border Towns

This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)
This handout satellite picture provided by Planet Labs PBC and dated October 24, 2024 shows a view of the village of the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal on the border with Israel, amid the ongoing war between Hezbollah and Israel. (Photo by Planet Labs PBC / AFP)

Some 29 Lebanese border villages have been “completely destroyed” by Israel, revealed Mohamed Chamseddine, policy research specialist at Information International.

Vidoes have been circulating on social media of dozens of houses in a Lebanese border village being detonated simultaneously by the Israeli army. Israel has been adopting this scorched earth policy since October in an attempt to set up a buffer zone along the border.

In one video, soldiers can be heard chanting a countdown before the detonation of several houses followed by celebrations.

Chamseddine told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israel has destroyed 29 villages dotted across 120 kms from the Naqoura area in the west to Shebaa in the east.

The villages of Aita al-Shaab, Kfar Kila, Adeisseh, Houla, Dhayra, Marwahin, Mhaibib, and al-Khiam have been completely destroyed along with some 25,000 houses, he added.

Last month, the detonations in Adeisseh and Deir Seryan were so powerful that they caused tremors that were initially mistaken for earthquakes.

Experts are in agreement that Israel is completely wiping out villages and all signs of life, including trees, to turn the area into a buffer zone so that residents of northern Israel can return to their homes.

They also believe that the scorched earth policy means that residents of the South won’t be able to rebuild and replant what they lost once a ceasefire is reached and they can return home.

Brig. Gen. Hassan Jouni, former deputy chief of staff of operations in the Lebanese Armed Forces, said Israel wants to be create a 3 km-deep buffer zone along its border with Lebanon.

Israel is destroying everything in that area, leaving it exposed so that any possible threat there can be easily spotted, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

However, he remarked that Israel is not keeping its forces deployed in the South, so it won’t be able to hold any territory and keep these areas destroyed. Any political agreement will inevitably call for the return of Lebanese residents back to their villages where they will rebuild their homes, he explained.

The Lebanese state will in no way agree for the border strip to remain uninhabited and destroyed, Jouni stressed.

“In all likelihood, Israel already knows this, and its actions are part of a psychological war to punish the residents of those villages and towns because they are Hezbollah’s popular support base. Israel wants to drive a wedge between the people and Hezbollah. It is as if it is saying: ‘See how the party was unable to protect your homes,’” he went on to say.

Moreover, Jouni said Israel is mistaken if it believes that a buffer zone will restore security to its northern settlements because those areas can be targeted from beyond the border region.

So, what is taking place on the ground is in effect Israel just going to the extreme in violating international law, he added. “Its claims that it is targeting weapons and ammunition caches do not fool anyone because from a military standpoint, these caches are not stored along the border, but deeper in a country.”