Lebanon government formed after 10-month stalemate

Compromise between Hariri and Hizbollah blocs to form 24-member cabinet ensures neither has power of veto over the other.

The Lebanese prime minister Tammam Salam has been trying to form a government since April last year. Nabil Mounzer / EPA

BEIRUT // Lebanon on Saturday announced the formation of a compromise government after a 10-month political vacuum during which the war in neighbouring Syria exacerbated longstanding divisions.

The 24-member government unites the powerful Shiite movement Hizbollah and its allies with the Sunni-led bloc of former prime minister Saad Hariri for the first time in three years.

“After 10 months of efforts, of patience, a government protecting the national interest is born,” said Tammam Salam, Lebanon’s new prime minister.

“It is a unifying government and the best formula to allow Lebanon to confront challenges,” said Mr Salam, who was tasked with forming the government in April 2013 after the resignation of his predecessor, Najib Mikati.

The political stalemate left Lebanon without a government even as the Syrian conflict spilled across the border, with bomb attacks in Beirut and elsewhere.

Multiple attempts to resolve the government crisis stumbled over disagreements between the Hizbollah and Hariri blocs, which back opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.

Hizbollah is allied with Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad and has dispatched fighters to bolster his regime in its fight against an uprising.

Mr Hariri is a fierce opponent of the government in Damascus and backs the Sunni-led uprising against Mr Al Assad.

Saturday’s compromise, which has been months in the making, is intended to ensure that neither the Hizbollah nor the Hariri bloc has veto power over the other.

It divides the 24 portfolios into three groups, with the Hizbollah and Hariri blocs each taking eight ministries, and the final eight going to candidates considered to be neutral.

To preserve the delicate balance between the country’s 18 sects, the government is also equally divided between Christian and Muslim representatives.

Mr Hariri paved the way for the breakthrough when he announced in a U-turn last month that he was willing to allow his so-called March 14 bloc to join a government with Hizbollah.

The decision was a bitter pill for the former prime minister, who is fiercely opposed to Hizbollah.

Five members of the group are currently on trial in absentia at a special court in The Hague for their alleged involvement in the 2005 assassination of his father, former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Mr Hariri’s decision has not been welcomed by all those in his bloc, with the Christian party Lebanese Forces refusing to join any government that includes Hizbollah.

Sources within March 14 said Mr Hariri had made a number of “concessions” to Hizbollah, which won several key portfolios for its Christian ally Michel Aoun.

His son-in-law Gebran Bassil becomes foreign minister, and fellow bloc member Arthur Nazarian will be in charge of the powerful energy ministry.

Mr Hariri also reportedly compromised on two initial candidates for interior minister, both of which were rejected by Hizbollah’s bloc, party sources said.

Mr Hariri has said his decision was justified by the country’s desperate need for leadership as it struggles with the spillover from the war in Syria.

In recent months, a string of bomb attacks have rocked the capital Beirut and other parts of the country.

The attacks have largely targeted areas considered Hizbollah strongholds, though the victims have been civilians, and have been claimed by Islamist militant groups in response to the movement’s role in Syria’s war.

* Agence France Presse