Alwaght- Lebanon's presidency has announced the formation of a new national unity government, putting an end to a nine-month deadlock on the political stage, which fueled the Arab country's economic woes.
The new cabinet was unveiled Thursday during a press conference at the presidential palace in the capital, Beirut, after rival political factions managed to hammer out their differences over the government line-up.
The new government -- headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri -- includes 30 ministers from most Lebanese political factions, which have been in talks after the country held in May 2018 its first parliamentary elections in nine years.
According to a statement by Lebanon's presidency, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal party, and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who leads President Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, have retained their positions in the new cabinet.
Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement has chosen Jamil Jabak as the new health minister, despite the fact that he is not a member of the movement.
Speaking following the announcement, Hariri voiced alarm about the country's economic and financial challenges, saying the time for dealing with problems with "painkillers" is over. That election saw Hariri lose over a third of his MPs; however, but kept his status as the leading Sunni Muslim, which enabled him to return as prime minister, a position reserved for his sect under Lebanese law. The Hezbollah resistance movement and its political allies secured over half the seats.
