Lebanon Sunni Leader Ready for Unity Govt With Hezbollah
Says Hezbollah Can't Have 'Veto Power'
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has been railing against the rival Hezbollah Party for almost a solid decade now, and the government has usually been one or the other faction, never both.
That could change soon, however, as both sides have roughly the same representation and Hariri now says he is “ready” for a unity government, provided Hezbollah doesn’t insist on any veto powers.
Lebanon has been in a state of political gridlock for almost a year, since the resignation of Hezbollah-allied PM Najib Mikati, and neither Hezbollah nor Hariri’s March 14 bloc able to put together a new coalition on their own.
A unity coalition would end that gridlock, but would also be politically difficult for Hariri, who is backed by the United States but would certainly lose that endorsement if he agrees to such a coalition.
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Mark Thomason
January 21st, 2014 at 11:09 pm
This article misunderstands. A "unity" government without veto is a handover of power. That has always been on offer, and was the whole point of the last big standoff.
A true unity government would give both sides a veto, so they would only act when united. That has never been on offer from the US/Israeli side.
Hariri is from the line of Israeli puppets installed during the invasion. That is who and what he is. His father enriched himself with billions in Western loans paid to Hariri and to be repaid by Lebanon, and that is the basis for the Lebanese nation debt explosion which cripples the government today.
It is big money stolen, puppet government, and lies, as in so many other post colonial disaster areas.
Jtt
January 22nd, 2014 at 7:13 am
Hezbollah doesn't need 'veto power' to act, they are a government within a government.I say we wait and see if Hezbollah will take the offer. Hariri is sure to piss off the US, but maybe he is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.