After over a month of wrangling over the formation of the cabinet following the June 8 parliamentary elections, Lebanon seems to be inching closing to forming a national unity government. The Prime Minister designate Rafiq Hariri, who returned from a vacation in France on Monday, said that there is “progress in the cabinet formation” and that he is “ready to overcome all obstacles and difficulties” towards the formation of the new cabinet.

The cabinet formation process slowed after the controversial statements of one of the main pillars of March 14 Forces, MP and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who made it clear on August 2 that his party will no longer be part of this coalition, effectively stripping March 14 of an absolute majority in the 128-seat parliament and complicating the formation of the new cabinet.
Following this announcement by Mr. Jumblat observers believed that the formation of the national unity cabinet may take longer than expected because of the previous 15-10-5 formula would be subject to new debate. The 15-10-5 formula grants the western backed March 14 coalition 15 ministers, the Hezbollah led March 8 opposition 10 ministers and the Christian President Michel Sleiman five ministers.
However, following a meeting between Mr. Hariri and Mr. Jumblatt on Tuesday to two voiced support for each other in forming a national-unity government and were in agreement on the 15-10-5 cabinet formula. The Druze leader said that his announcement last week, in which he said that his alliance with the March 14 coalition was out of necessity and needs to be terminated, as “blown out of proportion by the media.”
The Druze leader also met Tuesday with Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad, who also affirmed that he sees no obstacles hindering the cabinet formation process.
Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi told AFP he saw “no major obstacles” to the talks.
President Suleiman also urged Tuesday to “strengthen” the home front and form a government as soon as possible in light of Israel’s repeated threats lately.
Another factor withholding the formation of the cabinet was the Christian opposition leader Michel Naim Aoun demanding his son-in-law (former telecommunications minister Gibran Bassil) to be given a ministry post again. Presently Mr. Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement party holds 27 seats in the parliament.
Mr. Basil failed to win a parliamentary seat in the June election and the majority insists that it will only agree to ministers who have proven they have the confidence of the electors. Israeli threat
”If Hezbollah joins the Lebanese government as an official entity, let it be clear that the Lebanese government, as far as we are concerned, is responsible for any attack – any attack – from its area on the state of Israel,” the Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned this week.
Hezbollah has been represented in the Lebanese cabinet since 2005 and parliament since 1992. Hezbollah has a minister in the outgoing cabinet as well.
The Zionist regime fought a 33-day-war with Hezbollah in its southern bastions in 2006. Israel’s intention was to eradicate the resistance movement of Hezbollah. Despite of the war crimes committed by the Zionist regime, in which some 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, were killed, the Hezbollah movement was strengthened by this war. Some 158 Israelis, mainly soldiers, were also killed during this war.
To mark the end of the third anniversary’s of Israel’s 33-day war, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s response to the Israeli threat on Friday: “We tell the Israelis today that if they bombard Beirut or the southern suburbs we will strike Tel Aviv.”
Senior Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hashim Safieddin said on Sunday that if Israel attacked Lebanon again, the group’s response would make the 2006 war seem like “a joke,” Lebanese media reported.
Hezbollah says it has rearmed and is now stronger than on the eve of its 2006 war with Israel. Hezbollah has hinted it could add anti-aircraft missiles to an arsenal that comprises short-range rockets and small arms. Israel, which conducts regular surveillance flights over Lebanon and Syria, and wages war mainly through air bombardments, sees this acquisition as an unacceptable “game-changer”. Hezbollah says it has also increased the number and range of its rockets.
According to Lebanon’s Daily Star the cabinet is not likely to be formed before the end of the month. Quoting a government source the Daily Star said that the distribution of portfolios and the choice of ministerial candidates would “take some time”.