Tunisia’s Chahed Will Reportedly Replace Mechichi

FILE - Former Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed addresses the parliament on the country's anti-corruption fight on July 20, 2017, in Tunis. AFP
FILE - Former Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed addresses the parliament on the country's anti-corruption fight on July 20, 2017, in Tunis. AFP
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Tunisia’s Chahed Will Reportedly Replace Mechichi

FILE - Former Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed addresses the parliament on the country's anti-corruption fight on July 20, 2017, in Tunis. AFP
FILE - Former Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed addresses the parliament on the country's anti-corruption fight on July 20, 2017, in Tunis. AFP

Former Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, head of the Long Live Tunisia movement, is a candidate to replace PM Hichem Mechichi, according to leaks made by some opposition parties.

Chahed will likely be named prime minister after the Islamist Ennahda Movement pressured Mechichi to implement a cabinet reshuffle, which President Kais Saeid strongly opposes.

Political sources agree that Chahed is supported by the President, and Ennahda does not mind naming him as PM, especially that it supported him in 2017 and 2018 following demands to oust him.

Political parties are considering several possible scenarios to solve the current crisis between the president, prime minister, and speaker.

Some are suggesting removing Mechichi from office, a demand supported by Saeid as a condition to launch political dialogue.

Leading Ennahda member Rafik Abdel Salam accused the president on Tuesday of willingly fabricating the political and constitutional crisis.

Abdel Salam warned that some people want to use the president as a tool to fight their battles by proxy and eliminate their opponents through coups and military trials.

Chahed has urged political parties to commit to a truce, especially since the government is not politically supported, and the parliament is ravaged by crises, noting that it will lead to solving the constitutional and political crisis.

In a related development, MP of the Democratic Bloc Hichem al-Ajbouni accused Ennahda of escalating the crisis with the President by supporting the prime minister, under the pretext of preserving government stability.

During a radio interview, Ajbouni said the PM yielded to the blackmail of Ennahda and its allies through recent appointments in the Ministry of Interior.



Almost Half of Attacks on Heath Care in Lebanon Have Been Deadly, WHO Says

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
TT

Almost Half of Attacks on Heath Care in Lebanon Have Been Deadly, WHO Says

Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)
Smoke rises as a result of an Israeli airstrike on the village of Al-Khiyam in southern Lebanon, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, northern Israel, 22 November 2024, amid cross-border hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. (EPA)

The World Health Organization says nearly half of the attacks on health care in Lebanon have been deadly since the Middle East conflict erupted in October last year, the highest such rate anywhere in the world.

The UN health agency says 65 out of 137, or 47%, of recorded “attacks on health care” in Lebanon over that time period have proven fatal to at least one person, and often many more.

WHO’s running global tally counts attacks, whether deliberate or not, that affect places like hospitals, clinics, medical transport, and warehouses for medical supplies, as well as medics, doctors, nurses and the patients they treat.

Nearly half of attacks on health care in Lebanon since last October and the majority of deaths occurred since an intensified Israeli military campaign began against Hezbollah in the country two months ago.

The health agency said 226 health workers and patients have been killed and 199 injured in Lebanon between Oct. 7, 2023 and this Monday.