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Lebanon: Opposition Searches for Competitor to Mikati to Lead Next Government

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives to meet with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives to meet with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon: Opposition Searches for Competitor to Mikati to Lead Next Government

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives to meet with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati arrives to meet with President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon September 10, 2021. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Less than a week before the binding parliamentary consultations to nominate a prime minister, caretaker Premier Najib Mikati remains the most favorable candidate, while the opposition parliamentary blocs are trying to agree on another figure.

President Michel Aoun has announced that the consultations would be held on Thursday at the Baabda Palace, amid criticism that the delay in setting the date was due to attempts to tailor the government before the appointment of a new premier.

However, sources close to the Lebanese presidency denied the claims, telling Asharq Al-Awsat: “The reason for giving an extra week to set the date for consultations is the lack of clarity in the positions of the parliamentary blocs… Therefore, the time interval between [Aoun’s] invitation and the date of consultations is to allow the blocs to consult and study the matter…”

Meanwhile, sources in the Lebanese Forces noted that contacts were underway between all parliamentary opposition blocs to adopt a single candidate for the premiership.

In this regard, sources familiar with the position of the Progressive Socialist Party told Asharq Al-Awsat that if the opposition succeeded in agreeing on the name of one candidate, the deputies of the Democratic Gathering Bloc would support them.

“But if they fail to do so, the bloc may nominate Mikati,” they said.

On the other hand, ministerial sources close to the Presidency said that Mikati was still the most favorable candidate. He enjoys the support of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the Hezbollah party, Marada Movement leader Sleiman Franjieh and deputies who were members of Al-Mustaqbal Movement.

Although the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Aoun’s son-in-law, MP Gibran Bassil, had launched an attack on Mikati, declaring that his bloc would not name him in the consultations, the sources did not deny that “re-assigning Mikati relieves Aoun in the last months of his tenure, especially in terms of completing some of the main tasks, including the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
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Palestinians Receptive to Lebanon’s Call to Limit Possession of Weapons in Refugee Camps

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)
The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee meets at the government headquarters. (Dialogue committee)

Lebanon has started to exert serious efforts to restrict the possession of weapons inside Palestinian refugee camps in the country in line with President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech.

The president had demanded that the possession of weapons in the country and the camps be limited to the state.

The Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee met at the government headquarters in Beirut three days ago to discuss the issue.

All Palestinian factions attended the meeting, and the gatherers agreed to “completely” resolve the Palestinian possession of arms outside the camps. They also agreed to outline how to restrict weapons inside the camps in line with the president’s speech.

The Lebanese state has yet to come up with the mechanism to confiscate the weapons inside the camps.

A Lebanese security source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the arms will be tackled through a political approach drawn up by the government. “It will be carried out by the army with the security agencies and in coordination with the Palestinian factions in the camp, led by the Fatah movement, which is the official representative of the Palestinian people,” it added.

The Palestinians have expressed their “complete understanding” of the issue, it remarked.

The laying down of weapons by Palestinian factions is a step towards all illegal weapons throughout the country being turned over to the Lebanese state, it went on to say.

“There are no longer any excuses for weapons to remain in possession of any organization,” stressed the source.

Lebanese groups will be demanded to lay down their arms after the Palestinian ones do, it added.

In a first, the Palestinian factions have been very receptive to a Lebanese head of state’s demand to cooperate in limiting the possession of weapons in the refugee camps.

Member of the Palestinian National and Central Councils Haitham Zaiter said that the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) recognizes that the camps are part of Lebanese territories, so they come under the authority of the state and its laws.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that “complete coordination” is ongoing between the Lebanese security agencies and PLO inside the camps where several wanted Lebanese and Palestinian suspects and others from other nationalities have been turned over to the authorities.

The suspects had sought refuge in the camps to avoid justice in the crimes they have committed, he acknowledged.

“The PLO is the sole representative of the Palestinian people inside Palestine and in the diaspora,” he stated.

Moreover, Zaiter explained that Palestinian weapons in Lebanon are either carried by the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) outside the camps or by non-partisan individuals inside the camps.

The PFLP-GC laid down its weapons as soon as the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad collapsed in December.

Heavy weapons inside the camps had been previously brought in with the aim to undermine the PLO, he added.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “has constantly called for coordination with Lebanese authorities to limit the possession of these weapons,” Zaiter said.