Lebanon: No End in Sight in Cabinet Formation Impasse

 File photo. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri visits President Michel Aoun (NNA)
File photo. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri visits President Michel Aoun (NNA)
TT

Lebanon: No End in Sight in Cabinet Formation Impasse

 File photo. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri visits President Michel Aoun (NNA)
File photo. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri visits President Michel Aoun (NNA)

No major efforts are being exerted to make a breakthrough in Lebanon's government formation process, despite shy attempts by a number of politicians that have failed to yield tangible results.

In this regard, Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzeddine said Tuesday that his party is holding talks with all sides over the government formation issue to remove obstacles hindering the formation of a new cabinet capable of facing Lebanon’s severe economic, social and financial crises.

Ezzeddine said the new cabinet must address the people’s needs by adopting reforms to fight corruption.

Meanwhile, sources from the Free Patriotic Movement and the Shiite duo said there no new developments regarding the cabinet formation process, affirming that there are no current talks between the political parties.

For their part, FPM sources blamed Hariri for the deadlock, saying there is no hope for talks to take place since Hariri is still traveling.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the Amal Movement supported Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative.

“It became clear that until today, there is no decision to form a cabinet, particularly from President Aoun and MP Gebran Bassil,” the sources said, adding that the US and Arab countries support Berri’s initiative.

The sources were referring to the separate visits that Under Secretary for Political Affairs David Hale and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made to Beirut last week to discuss the political and financial crises.



Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
TT

Italy Says Suspending EU Sanctions on Syria Could Help Encourage Transition

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syria's de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, right, meets with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Damascus, Syria, Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (SANA via AP)

Italy's foreign minister says a moratorium on European Union sanctions on Syria could help encourage the country's transition after the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad by opposition groups.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Syria on Friday and expressed Italy’s keen interest in helping Syria recover from civil war, rebuild its broken economy and help stabilize the region.

Tajani, who met with Syria’s new de facto leaders, including Ahmed al-Sharaa, said a stable Syria and Lebanon was of strategic and commercial importance to Europe.

He said the fall of Assad's government, as well as the Lebanon parliament's vote on Thursday to elect army commander Joseph Aoun as president, were signs of optimism for Middle East stability.

He said Italy wanted to play a leading role in Syria’s recovery and serve as a bridge between Damascus and the EU, particularly given Italy’s commercial and strategic interests in the Mediterranean.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Tajani later traveled to Lebanon and met with Aoun. Italy has long played a sizeable role in the UN peacekeeping force for Lebanon, UNIFIL.

On the eve of his visit, Tajani presided over a meeting in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and officials from Britain, France and Germany as well as the EU foreign policy chief. He said that meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to begin the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

“The sanctions were against the Assad regime. If the situation has changed, we have to change our choices,” Tajani said.