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Lebanon: Shiite Duo Insists on Finance Ministry After New US Sanctions

Then-Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil walks to attend the cabinet meeting in Baabda, Lebanon May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Then-Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil walks to attend the cabinet meeting in Baabda, Lebanon May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon: Shiite Duo Insists on Finance Ministry After New US Sanctions

Then-Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil walks to attend the cabinet meeting in Baabda, Lebanon May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Then-Lebanon’s Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil walks to attend the cabinet meeting in Baabda, Lebanon May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

A meeting on Tuesday between President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib failed to reach an agreement over the general framework of the new government, sources with knowledge of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The sources explained that Aoun insisted on a government of 24 or 20 ministers, while Adib refused to go back on his decision to form a cabinet of 14 ministers, stressing that there was no justification for the presence of an enlarged government as several ministries could be abolished and others could be merged together.

The sources revealed that the meeting - which preceded the decision issued by the US Treasury to impose sanctions on the two former ministers, MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Youssef Fenianos - ended with an agreement on the principle of rotating the portfolios between the different sects.

But the rotation agreement will clash with the insistence of the Shiite duo, Amal Party and Hezbollah - to maintain the Ministry of Finance because it allows the Shiites to have the third signature on the financial decrees and decisions, along with the signatures of the President of the Republic, the prime minister, and the relevant ministers.

The sources emphasized that the divergence of views between Aoun and Adib would hinder the birth of the new government, which was expected to be formed before Sunday, that is, two days before the deadline set by French President Emmanuel Macron.

According to the sources, the Shiite duo had shown some flexibility, but with the US sanctions imposed on Khalil and Fenianos, Amal and Hezbollah might be forced to harden their position.

On Tuesday, the US slapped sanctions on the two former ministers over their ties with Hezbollah.

Although these sanctions are still being studied by the Shiite duo, specifically by Speaker Nabih Berri, because they affected Khalil, his political aide, the sources said that meetings were held away from the spotlight to create the appropriate conditions for the birth of the government to avoid a political problem with Macron, who had threatened to impose European sanctions on those who hinder the implementation of the French initiative.

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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
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Israeli Rights Group Accuses Prison Authority of Failing Palestinian Prisoners after Scabies Outbreak

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir attends a discussion called on by the opposition on the release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, 18 November 2024. (EPA)

An Israeli rights group said Monday that more than a quarter of all Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel had contracted scabies since an outbreak was identified in May, and accused the prison authority of improper care and prevention.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel said that more than 2,800 prisoners had caught the rash-like infection, with more than 1,700 still actively infected. The outbreak was seen in five different detention facilities, the group said. It was citing figures it said came from the Israel Prison Service.

The group said it filed a legal petition calling on the prison service “to eradicate the scabies epidemic,” accusing the authorities of failing “to implement widely recognized medical interventions necessary to contain the outbreak.”

It said that it halted the legal proceedings after it received a commitment from the prison service to address the outbreak. The prison service said the court had cancelled the petition because the prisons had shown they were dealing with the outbreak in a “systematic and thorough” way.

Nadav Davidovich, an Israeli public health expert who wrote a medical analysis for the group’s court proceedings, said the outbreak was a result of overcrowding in prisons and apparent neglect from prison authorities. He said such outbreaks could be prevented if prisoners were held “in more reasonable conditions.” If the first infections were treated as needed, such an outbreak could have been avoided, he said.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel also said that the Israel Prison Service had cited scabies as a reason for postponing lawyers' visits and court appearances for prisoners. It said those steps “violate prisoners’ rights and serve as punitive measures rather than public health responses.”

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prisons, has boasted about hardening conditions to the bare minimum required by law.