Lebanon: Bassil Rules Out Joining Hariri Government

FILE PHOTO: Gebran Bassil, a Lebanese politician and head of the Free Patriotic movement, talks during an interview with Reuters in Sin-el-fil, Lebanon July 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gebran Bassil, a Lebanese politician and head of the Free Patriotic movement, talks during an interview with Reuters in Sin-el-fil, Lebanon July 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon: Bassil Rules Out Joining Hariri Government

FILE PHOTO: Gebran Bassil, a Lebanese politician and head of the Free Patriotic movement, talks during an interview with Reuters in Sin-el-fil, Lebanon July 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gebran Bassil, a Lebanese politician and head of the Free Patriotic movement, talks during an interview with Reuters in Sin-el-fil, Lebanon July 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

The head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, on Sunday ruled out joining a new government led by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, a new hurdle for efforts to pull Lebanon out of political and economic paralysis.

Politicians have been at loggerheads over the shape of a new administration since the last one quit in the aftermath of the devastating Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion.

Hariri was named premier for a fourth time in October promising to form a cabinet of specialists to enact reforms necessary to unlock much needed foreign aid.

But Bassil, who is President Michel Aoun’s son-in-law, said in a televised speech the FPM would not join the cabinet as long as Hariri insisted on choosing all ministers.

"We don't entrust Hariri alone with reform in Lebanon," Bassil said. "In short we don't want to take part in this government."

After Bassil's speech, Hariri's al-Mustaqbal movement said it did not want to be dragged into political bickering and that the cabinet line-up was ready and waiting to shoulder its duties.

"It will be a government that will take up the necessary reforms according to the French initiative and not according to sectarian and racist 'Bassil-like' considerations," a statement by the party said.

However, Bassil said Hariri did not appear to be serious about forming a government: "Every time he meets the president he takes a different line-up with him," Bassil said. "Someone who does that is serious and wants to form a government? Or is wasting time?"



Canada PM Carney Condemns Israeli Blockade on Food, Says WFP Must Be Allowed to Work in Gaza

Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney delivers his speech after being announced as the winner of the party leadership at the announcement event in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney delivers his speech after being announced as the winner of the party leadership at the announcement event in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Canada PM Carney Condemns Israeli Blockade on Food, Says WFP Must Be Allowed to Work in Gaza

Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney delivers his speech after being announced as the winner of the party leadership at the announcement event in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)
Liberal Party of Canada Leader Mark Carney delivers his speech after being announced as the winner of the party leadership at the announcement event in Ottawa, Ontario, Sunday, March 9, 2025. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney urged Israel to allow the World Food Program to work in Gaza, saying food must not be used as a 'political tool', hours after the UN agency ran out of stocks due to a sustained Israeli blockade on supplies.
The WFP said on Friday it had delivered its last remaining supplies to kitchens providing hot meals in Gaza and that the facilities were expected to run out of food in the coming days, Reuters reported.
"The UN World Food Program just announced that its food stocks in Gaza have run out because of the Israeli Government's blockade — food cannot be used as a political tool," Carney said on X.
The UN agency said no humanitarian or commercial supplies had entered Gaza for more than seven weeks because all main border crossing points were closed, the longest closure the Gaza Strip had ever faced.
"Palestinian civilians must not bear the consequences of Hamas' terrorist crimes," Carney said. "The World Food Program must be allowed to resume its lifesaving work."
Israel has previously denied that Gaza is facing a hunger crisis. The military accuses the Hamas militants who run Gaza of exploiting aid, which Hamas denies, and says it must keep all supplies out to prevent the fighters from getting it.
The Gaza government media office on Friday said that famine was becoming a reality in the enclave of 2.3 million people.
Since a January ceasefire collapsed on March 18, Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to health authorities in Gaza, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as Israel seized what it calls a buffer zone.
An attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023 killed 1,200 people, and 251 hostages were taken to Gaza. Since then, more than 51,300 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to health officials.
"We will continue to work with our allies towards a permanent ceasefire and the immediate return of all hostages," Carney added.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
Canadians will vote to elect a new government on Monday, and polls show Carney's Liberals have a slim lead over the Conservatives.