By NAJIA HOUSSARI – arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanese President Michel Aoun has blasted Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri for a speech containing “inaccuracies and incorrect information.” The two leaders have been at loggerheads for months, unable to agree on the formation of a government and each blaming the other for the lack of progress. Hariri returned as prime minister-designate last October, almost a year after he stepped down under street pressure. Lebanon’s government had quit after the Aug. 4 port blast in Beirut and remains in a caretaker capacity. Hariri on Sunday gave a televised speech marking the 16th anniversary of his father’s assassination. He said he was not responsible for the political stalemate that was undermining the country’s ability to deal with the many troubles it was facing, including the coronavirus pandemic, an economy in crisis and the aftermath of the port explosion. He also objected to allegations that he had infringed on the president’s prerogatives in forming the government or on Christians’ rights, but added that he “did not allow the president to choose the ministers he wanted, especially Christian ministers.”

A 1943 unwritten agreement, the Lebanese National Pact, between then-President Bechara El-Khoury and Prime Minister Riad Al-Solh founded independent Lebanon as a multi-confessional state. It was a power-sharing arrangement between Christians and Muslims, whereby the president was always required to be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of parliament a Shiite. Aoun hit back at Hariri in a statement. “Hariri exploited the anniversary of his father’s martyrdom and included in his speech many inaccuracies and incorrect information. Hariri is trying to impose new norms that are contrary to principles, the constitution, and the Lebanese National Pact,” the president said.

Former minister Salim Jreissati said that Hariri’s speech was “marked by infinite temerity,” adding: “The rights of Christians, which Hariri said he defended, are guaranteed in the National Pact, the constitution, and the Taif Agreement, which stipulates parity, and no one has the right to say they have conferred a favor on Christians and guaranteed their rights.” Hariri’s team said on Monday that it would wait for contributions from Aoun’s allies to solve the obstacles associated with the president in facilitating the formation of a new government. The political bureau of Lebanon’s Shiite Amal Movement said progress in the government’s formation had revealed the “sterility of the debate” that put private interests before the supreme national interest. Future Movement MP Mohammad Hajjar said the Free Patriotic Movement, which is led by Aoun’s son-in-law Gebran Bassil and is allied with Hezbollah, was trying to evade forming the government to focus on other issues. “They have always aimed to transform the political debate into a sectarian one under the pretext of (protecting) the rights of Christians,” he told Arab News.

Hajjar said everyone needed to take responsibility for the political stalemate, especially Hezbollah, and that Hariri had given Aoun a government line-up that needed to be discussed. Hariri would continue to wait until “God-knows-when” because he was convinced that his insistence on a government of non-partisan specialists was in the interests of Lebanon, would stop the country’s collapse, and would allow Lebanon to receive desperately needed aid from the international community, Hajjar added. There were armed confrontations in several parts of Lebanon as political leaders fought over the formation of a new government.

One of these clashes was in the southern suburbs of Beirut between two pro-Hezbollah families. It broke out on Sunday night, and machine-guns and missile weapons were used. It started again at dawn on Monday, killing one person and injuring several others, and the Lebanese army intervened to end the fighting. There was also an exchange of fire after an isolated incident in the old city of Sidon, wounding one person, with security forces working to contain it. Protesters on Monday took to Beirut Port, the military court, the Palace of Justice, and Martyrs’ Square. They demanded an end to arrests, and for those responsible for the port explosion to be held accountable.