Above: Newly-assigned Lebanese Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, left, meets with outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019. Diab said he plans to form a government of experts and independents to deal with the country’s crippling economic crisis. Diab spoke to reporters Friday, following a meeting with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a day after he was asked by the president to form the country’s next government. By Dalati Nohra, Associated Press.
A former education minister backed by the militant Hezbollah group and its allies was selected Thursday as Lebanon’s new prime minister to break a political impasse amid mass protests, although he almost immediately ran into opposition from demonstrators on the streets.
Hassan Diab, a professor at the American University of Beirut, was named by President Michel Aoun after a day of consultations with lawmakers in which he gained a simple majority in the 128-member parliament. He won support from 69 lawmakers, including the parliamentary bloc of the Shiite Hezbollah and Amal movements, as well as lawmakers affiliated with Aoun.
But Diab failed to get the support of Lebanon’s major Sunni leaders, including former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. That is key because under the country’s sectarian-based system, the premier must come from the Sunni community.
That also will make it difficult for him to form an inclusive Cabinet able to gain the international community’s trust and unlock badly needed assistance for the tiny Mediterranean country that is facing its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 civil war.
Friendly nations, including France, have made clear they will not support the heavily indebted nation before a reform-minded Cabinet is formed.
Demonstrators called the 60-year-old Diab part of the old ruling class that they oppose and continued their protests.
In his first public address, Diab said he would work quickly to form a government in consultations with political parties and representatives of the protest movement. He said he is committed to a reform plan and described the current situation as “critical and sensitive,” requiring exceptional efforts and collaboration.
“We are facing a national crisis that doesn’t allow for the luxury of personal and political battles but needs national unity,” Diab said. He told the protesters he hears their “pain.”
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale was traveling to Beirut, the most senior foreign diplomat to visit the country since the crisis. U.S. diplomats have said they support the quick formation of a government that can bring about reform.
Support from Iran-backed Hezbollah guarantees Diab a thorny path, potentially inviting criticism from Western and Gulf nations that had supported Hariri. The Shiite group is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., some Gulf Arab countries and a few Latin American nations. The European Union considers only Hezbollah’s military wing to be a terrorist group.
Maha Yahya, director of Carnegie Middle East, a Beirut-based think tank, said Diab arrives with no support from his community and no consensus at a time when Lebanon is facing an economic meltdown and needs international assistance.
“The problem is he is coming on as a weakened prime minister, ” she said.
Following Diab’s appointment, protesters gathered in central Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square, the epicenter of the protests. They cast him as part of the class of politicians they oppose. Supporters of Hariri also began taking to the streets.
“I see the country is going to waste. With this kind of government, no one will deal with it, no Arab, no Europe and No U.S.,” said Saeb Hujrat, a protester in Martyr Square. He held a large banner reading: “We want a government outside of the ruling class.”
For two months, the leaderless protests have been calling for a government made up of specialists that can work on dealing with the economic crisis. The protests have recently turned violent, with frequent clashes between security forces and protesters.
Supporters of Hezbollah and Amal also have attacked the protest camp site in Beirut several times. The most recent one came last weekend when they set cars on fire and threw stones and firecrackers at security forces for hours.
Diab gained attention after caretaker premier Hariri withdrew his name from consideration following weeks of haggling and deep divisions among the various factions over naming him again. Hariri resigned Oct. 29 in response to the unprecedented mass protests and as an already-dire economic crisis deteriorated quickly.
Hariri had insisted he would head a Cabinet made up of specialists to deal with the crisis. Hezbollah, which initially backed him, demanded a government including all major political factions.
Diab served as minister of education from 2011-14, when Hezbollah and its allies overturned a Cabinet headed by Hariri at the time.
Diab was in the U.K. when Lebanon’s civil war broke out. There, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in communications and computer engineering from the universities of Leeds Metropolitan, Surrey and Bath.
New Lebanon PM meets with parliamentarians on road ahead
Lebanon’s new prime minister held consultations Saturday with parliamentary blocs in which they discussed the shape of the future government and said afterward that legislators all had one concern: To get the country out of its “strangling” economic crisis.
Hassan Diab, a university professor and former education minister, will have to steer Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis in decades. He’s also taking office against the backdrop of ongoing nationwide protests against the country’s ruling elite.
“Lebanon is in the intensive care unit and needs efforts” by all sides, from political groups to protesters, Diab said.
Consultations began a day after scuffles broke out in Beirut and other areas between supporters of outgoing prime minister Saad Hariri and Lebanese troops and riot police. The ex-premier’s supporters were protesting Diab’s nomination. At least seven soldiers were injured.
Diab told reporters later that all members of parliament encouraged him to form a Cabinet “as soon as possible.” Cabinets usually take months to form in Lebanon because of bargaining between rival groups.
Diab said he hopes to form a government of about 20 ministers made up of independents and technocrats within few weeks. “It’s time to work and we ask God to make us successful.”
He added that the situation in Lebanon cannot stand any delays amid its worst economic and financial crisis since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.
Lebanese banks have imposed unprecedented capital controls in recent weeks. Thousands have lost their jobs and the economy is expected to contract in 2020.
Diab began his meetings Saturday at Parliament with Speaker Nabih Berri, then held talks with former prime ministers, including caretaker premier Hariri. He later met with blocs at the legislature.
Militant Hezbollah and its allies had previously insisted that a new government consist of politicians and experts but on Saturday, Diab said “all parties agree with me regarding a government made up of independents and experts, including Hezbollah.”
Legislator Paula Yacoubian, who backs the protest movement, said Diab told her “the government will be fully made up of independents and that he will step down if there is going to be members of the state’s political parties.”
She added: “I heard very nice talk similar to what the people have been demanding.”
The protesters have been demanding a government that does not include members of political parties whom they blame for widespread corruption. Diab said he will meet with the protesters in the coming days without elaborating.
Earlier on Saturday, Hariri cautioned supporters after meeting Diab against violent protests, saying: “The army is ours and police forces are for all Lebanese.”
Shortly before sunset Saturday, scores of protesters including Hariri supporters, closed two major intersections in Beirut demanding that Diab step aside, saying he failed to win wide support from Sunni legislators. Saturday’s protests were peaceful unlike those of the night before when stones and firecrackers were hurled at security forces.
The new prime minister won a majority of lawmakers’ votes after receiving backing from powerful Hezbollah and its allies, which have a majority of seats in parliament.
However, he lacks the support of major Sunni figures, including the largest Sunni party headed by Hariri. That’s particularly problematic for Diab, who, as a Sunni, doesn’t have the backing of his own community. And under Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing agreement, the prime minister must be Sunni.
The head of Hezbollah’s 12-member bloc, Mohammad Raad, said the group wants a government that preserves what the Lebanese have achieved in “victories during the confrontation with the Israeli enemy and to maintain our national sovereignty, our maritime (oil and gas) wealth and land and to prevent the enemy from undermining its sovereignty and the national dignity.”
A lawmaker from the bloc led by the Shiite Amal group — headed by parliament speaker Berri — said the incoming government should focus on fighting corruption.
“It should be an emergency government that works on solving the economic, financial, social and banking crisis,” said Anwar al-Khalil after the meeting with Diab.
Samir al-Jisr of Hariri’s bloc said they will not take part in Diab’s government.
Hezbollah’s ally, Gebran Bassil, who heads the largest bloc in parliament, said the future government “is not Hezbollah’s Cabinet but of all Lebanese and it is not against anyone.”
Michel Moawad, a harsh critic of the militant group, said Diab told him the new government will not be controlled by “Hezbollah and will not be confrontational.”
Hezbollah had backed Hariri for prime minister from the start, but the group differed with him over the shape of the new government.
Lebanon’s sustained, leaderless protests erupted in mid-October, and forced Hariri’s resignation within days. But politicians were later unable to agree on a new prime minister. The ongoing protests and paralysis have worsened the economic crisis.