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Lebanon announces formation of new, Hezbollah-dominated Cabinet

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Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati yesterday announced the formation of a new Cabinet, ending five months of deliberations that followed the collapse of the government led by Saad Hariri in January. Hezbollah and its Christian and Druse allies will dominate the new Cabinet. Hezbollah and its allies are set to control 18 of the 30 seats in the new government, compared to 11 in the previous one – though only two ministers are actually Hezbollah members. The two Hezbollah ministers are Hussein al-Haj Hassan and Muhammad Fneish. Despite giving up one minister from their share of the vote, the March 8 alliance, headed by Hezbollah, was allotted the largest number of government seats, which amounted to 17. The centrist bloc, which Mikati represents, was allotted seven portfolios, while the share of President Michel Suleiman consisted of two portfolios and the Druze Progressive Socialist Party counts three representatives in the new government. The key Interior Ministry portfolio, which was vied by both the President and Hezbollah’s ally Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, was allotted to a consensus figure.

The pro-western March 14 movement is not represented in the new government. Prime Minister Najib Mikati is a close associate of the Syrian regime, and the new government will be the first to be openly dominated by the Hezbollah-led bloc. Therefore, its formation represents a significant achievement for the regional bloc led by Iran, and the latest stage in Hezbollah’s long rise toward political primacy in Lebanon.

The United States said yesterday that it would judge the new Lebanese government “by its actions” following the announcement of a 30-member cabinet dominated by the militant Hezbollah and its allies. “What’s important in our mind is that the new Lebanese government abides by the Lebanese constitution, that it renounces violence, including efforts to exact retribution against former government officials, and lives up to all its international obligations,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Toner also urged the new government to support the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of then-prime minister Rafiq Hariri in a 2005 bombing widely blamed on Hezbollah’s main backer Syria.