by naharnet — Resigned Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday blamed President Michel Aoun for the failure to form a new government, as he announced that he would not nominate a successor for the PM post. “I nominated myself to form a government according to the French initiative, which means a government of specialists, and today I apologized for not being able to form ‘Michel Aoun’s government,’” Hariri said in a live interview on al-Jadeed TV, only a few hours after he announced his resignation as PM-designate. “I resigned in 2019 because I wanted a government of specialists and had I formed ‘Michel Aoun’s government’ I would not have been able to rescue the country,” Hariri added. “There is camp that has decided to torture the country and take us to hell and all the obstacles that I faced were created by this camp,” the ex-PM went on to say, referring to Aoun and his party.

Noting that he quit the formation mission because Aoun “did not want to form a government,” Hariri added that “when the President decides the date of the consultations,” he would talk to his allies and “decide what to do.” Hitting out at Aoun, the ex-PM said: “Because Saad Hariri is Sunni and patriotic, he is prohibited from naming ministers and only President Aoun has the right to nominate!”

As for the upcoming period, Hariri said “the solution is to form a government as soon as possible, whichever government it may be, but what’s important is that they work on the IMF program.” “We will not nominate anyone, but we won’t obstruct nor paralyze the country, and we might grant the government our confidence if it’s a good government,” Hariri added. “I have sacrificed myself for the sake of the country,” he said. Told that Aoun had considered him to be “like his son,”

Hariri answered: “And I made him president, but this period has ended.” “Hizbullah did not exert enough effort to form the government,” Hariri said, adding that he does not believe that the party had pressed Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil to facilitate the government’s formation. Asked whether he “thanks the Shiite duo”, Hariri said he I expressed gratitude to Speaker Nabih Berri exclusively. “I want to thank Speaker Berri for standing by me during this period, and his main objective was the formation of the government,” Hariri added. “There are upcoming elections and we will confront all those who opposed the French initiative,” the ex-PM went on to say.

Washington: The United States said Thursday’s resignation of Saad Hariri as Lebanon’s prime minister designate was disappointing. “It is critical that a government committed and able to implement priority reforms be formed now,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Hariri abandoned his efforts to form a government nine months after accepting the challenge.