Lebanese Former Premiers Criticize Aoun’s Tone Towards Hariri

Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
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Lebanese Former Premiers Criticize Aoun’s Tone Towards Hariri

Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)
Lebanese President Aoun and PM-designate Hariri meet at the presidential palace on Thursday. (Dalati & Nohra)

Lebanese former Prime Ministers Najib Mikati, Fouad Siniora and Tammam Salam deplored President Michel Aoun’s behavior towards Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, accusing him of “distorting the constitution”.

They instead underlined the need to form a government that enjoys the confidence of the Lebanese people.

In a statement following a meeting held in the absence of Hariri, the former premiers expressed their regret over “the method adopted by His Excellency the President of the Republic, who is the head of state and a symbol of the nation’s unity, in addressing the Prime Minister-designate through a televised statement, while the agreed principles require direct communication between them, especially as the country is going through a fateful crisis.”

The former premiers emphasized the “sense of high responsibility expressed by Prime Minister designate Saad Hariri… by countering repeated attempts to drag him into quarrels and media disputes, which could have destroyed the remaining credibility of the falling state.”

Calling on Aoun to abide by the constitution, they said that Article 53 pertaining to the powers of the President of the Republic to form the government, stipulates that the president “shall issue the decree forming the government in agreement with the prime minister.”

“It did not say ‘form’, but rather ‘issue’,” they emphasized.

The former premiers underlined that the task of formation was “entrusted, according to the second paragraph of Article 64, to the designated prime minister based on the confidence granted to him by the parliamentary majority…”

In a televised speech on Wednesday, Aoun asked Hariri to form a new government immediately or make way for someone else.

A meeting was held between the two top officials the following day, after which the premier-designate expressed a more positive tone, saying another meeting was scheduled for Monday and that he saw “an opportunity to be seized”.



Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
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Lebanon Bans Dealing with Hezbollah Financial Entity

A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo
A view shows Lebanon's Central Bank building in Beirut, Lebanon April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir/File Photo

Lebanon's central bank has banned banks and brokerages from dealing with a Hezbollah-affiliated financial institution, according to a circular, a sign of the group's diminished sway over state affairs since its devastating war with Israel.

Keeping up military pressure on the Iran-backed group, Israel on Tuesday launched some of its heaviest airstrikes since a ceasefire in November, saying it hit training camps and weapons depots in east Lebanon. A security source in Lebanon said 12 people were killed, five of them Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

Hezbollah has faced mounting pressures since the war, including financial ones.

In the circular, dated July 14 and reviewed by Reuters, Banque du Liban prohibited all licensed financial institutions in Lebanon from dealing directly or indirectly with unlicensed entities and listed Hezbollah's Al-Qard Al-Hassan as an example.

The US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Al-Qard Al-Hassan in 2007, saying Hezbollah used it as a cover to manage "financial activities and gain access to the international financial system".

Bolstered by its powerful arsenal, Hezbollah had long exercised decisive influence over Lebanese state affairs, but it was unable to impose its will in the formation of a post-war government in February.

Al-Qard Al-Hassan, founded in 1983, describes itself as a charitable organisation which provides loans to people according to Islamic principles that forbid interest. Israel struck some of its branches during its war with Hezbollah last year.

Operating as a not-for-profit organisation under a licence granted by the Lebanese government, it has more than 30 branches, mostly in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley.

SHADOW ECONOMY

A Lebanese official said the central bank move had been in the works for months, and reflected US pressure on Lebanon to take action against Hezbollah's financial wing.

Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, said Lebanese banks were already careful to avoid dealing with Al-Qard Al-Hassan because it is under US sanctions.

"The important point is that finally the authorities are addressing the shadow economy in Lebanon, which is the real problem," he said, adding that authorities had long failed to address its "toxic effects".

In June, the European Commission included Lebanon in an updated list of high-risk jurisdictions presenting strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism.

Last year, global financial crime watchdog FATF placed Lebanon on its "grey list" of countries under special scrutiny.