PARIS (Reuters) by John Irish -During a private dinner in Paris last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made clear that Washington was unhappy with France’s strategy to include Iran-backed Hezbollah in efforts to resolve the economic and political crisis in Lebanon. French President Emmanuel Macron has been spearheading international efforts to rescue the former French protectorate from its deepest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. He has travelled twice to Lebanon since a huge explosion at the Beirut port in August devastated the city. Macron is trying to use Paris’ historical influence to persuade squabbling Lebanese politicians to adopt a road map and form a new government tasked with rooting out corruption, a prerequisite for international donors including the IMF to unlock billions of dollars in aid. He had been due to return for a third visit on Dec. 22, but postponed the trip on Thursday after testing positive for coronavirus. Army chief Francois Lecointre will replace the president to visit French troops on the ground and an official involved in organising the visit said Macron may speak by phone to Lebanese President Michel Aoun but there were no other plans for now.

The 42-year-old French leader has from the outset faced the inertia of Lebanon’s fractious political class, which has bickered and ignored international warnings of state bankruptcy, as well as resistance to his plans from Washington. “The Lebanese political class is stuck in its own contradictions and is happy to play the clock,” said Nadim Khoury at the Arab Reform Initiative. “(Prime Minister-designate) Saad al-Hariri is not able to form a government and internationally the U.S. will not facilitate French efforts to form a government.” The U.S. objection to Macron’s plan is centred on Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed movement that wields enormous power in Lebanon and which Washington brands a terrorist group. Hariri, a former prime minister, was given the task of forming a government after Mustapha Adib resigned in September. He is so far struggling to cobble together a cabinet to share power with all Lebanese parties, including Hezbollah.

by english.alarabiya.net -- Hezbollah has used Lebanon’s health budget to disproportionately fund its own medical institutions, according to a government document issued by the Health Ministry currently run by pro-Hezbollah minister Hamad Hasan. The official document showed the health budget allocations for both public and private hospitals, which the caretaker Lebanese government signed before its resignation last August only four days following the Beirut port explosion. It showed that the ministry raised the budgets of Hezbollah-sponsored medical institutions. In recent governments, Hezbollah began demanding more ministerial portfolios that have access to state services and funding such as the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Industry. This disproportionate budget allocation by the Ministry of Health has raised the concerns of Lebanese citizens on Hezbollah’s use of ministries to fund and support its own parallel economy.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Health was also criticized for trying to replace medicines produced in Europe with alternatives produced in Iran. The document seen by Al Arabiya English showed that al-Rassoul al-Azam Hospital, which was not affected by the Beirut port explosion and is affiliated with Hezbollah, received 14.7 billion Lebanese pounds ($9.7 million at the country’s official pegged rate), an increase of 5.5 billion Lebanese pounds ($3.6 million) compared to the prior year. The same budget allocations were not increased for prominent hospitals such as the American University, Roum, and Hotel Dieu despite their recent challenges following the impact of the Beirut blast in August and being the major hospitals to receive and treat the number of dead and injured.

by middleeastmonitor.com -- Palestine and Lebanon have been added to the International Red Cross (IRC) emergency watchlist for 2021. This year's list also includes Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Mali and Afghanistan, but Iraq and Libya, which featured in 2020, have been removed. The list identifies 20 countries at the greatest risk of a major new, or significantly worsened, humanitarian crisis in the following 12 months. Palestine is on the 2021 list because the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated existing emergencies in the country, the report says. Su'ad Jarbawi, regional vice president of the IRC, said: "The situation in Palestine is dire, notably in Gaza where there is a double lockdown – a 13 year long blockade and now restrictions related to the pandemic." The report warns the situation in Palestine is rapidly deteriorating because humanitarian agencies are facing record low funding levels, citing the US decision to withdraw support for UNRWA. The IRC does not currently operate in the occupied Palestinian territories but is monitoring and assessing the conflict to determine if and when to enter the location, the report added.

by dailystar.com.lb -- Hussein Dakroub -- BEIRUT: Cancellation of French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Beirut has shattered hopes for breaking the Cabinet formation deadlock, heightening fears of a prolonged standoff with all the dire consequences this entails for the country’s crumbling economy and internal stability, political sources said Thursday. The cancellation of Macron’s visit to Beirut, scheduled for next week, came after the French president tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, following a week when he has met with numerous European leaders. Macron took a test "as soon as the first symptoms appeared" and will self-isolate for seven days, the French presidency said in a brief statement. The 42-year-old president "will continue to work and take care of his activities at a distance," the statement added. The French presidency confirmed that Macron's trip to Lebanon is being canceled.

Macron was scheduled to visit Beirut on Dec. 22-23, marking his third trip to the crises-stricken country since the deadly Aug. 4 explosion that devastated Beirut Port, left half of the capital in ruins, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands, and caused millions of dollars in material damage. With the Cabinet formation process at a dead end days after Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun aired their differences over the formation with each blaming the other for the delay in an unprecedented “war of words,” popular and political attention was focused on Macron’s visit in the hope that it would achieve a breakthrough in the weekslong standoff. Even Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri held out hope that Macron might be able to help in resolving the Cabinet crisis during his visit.