A new Cabinet has been announced last night in Lebanon, breaking a three-month-long political vacuum amid mass protests against the government.
President Michel Aoun, arrives to the cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab and the ministers held the first meeting at the presidential palace in Beirut with President Michel Aoun attending the session.
The 20-member Cabinet is made up mostly of specialists and includes six women — a record number for Lebanon — holding key ministries, including those of defense, justice and labor.
As the Lebanon’s new government held its first meeting on Wednesday, a day after it was formed, the protesters briefly closed off major roads in and around Beirut, denouncing it as a rubber stamp for the same political parties they blame for widespread corruption.
The protesters wave a Lebanese flag and hide behind a wood barrier from water cannon as they clash with the riot police during a protest against the new government, near the parliament square, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.
One of the protesters prepares to throw a Molotov cocktail at the riot police and sprayed by water cannon as he films by his mobile phone.
The new Cabinet, which has the support of the powerful militant Hezbollah group and its allies, has a monumental task ahead — including getting Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.
The crisis worsened since mass protests against the political elite started in mid-October, leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government two weeks later.
Analysts say the new government, being politically aligned with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, would likely have difficulty drumming up international and regional support needed to avoid economic collapse.
Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and oil-rich gulf countries whose support is badly needed for debt-ridden Lebanon. The European Union considers the military wing of Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the formation of a new government, saying “he looks forward to working with” Diab and his Cabinet, “including in support of Lebanon’s reform agenda and to address the pressing needs of its people.”
