...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers, a practice dating back to the heady human sacrifice days of Baal Moloch...’s officials to deal seriously with the concerns expressed by French President Emmanuel Macron over the failure of efforts to form a government.
In comments to Asharq al-Awsat, the Lebanese source said that Macron was striving to ensure continued support to the Lebanese as their country is heading towards political vacuum, although he had pledged to defend his efforts to form a government that would lead the required reforms.
In a news conference on Thursday, Macron said: "We are technically working with several partners in the international community so that at some point, (...) if the absence of government persisted, we could succeed in preserving a system under international constraint, which would then allow the funding of essential activities and support for the Lebanese people."
According to the Lebanese politician, Macron’s announcement confirmed the failed negotiations to form the government, which returned to square one, without any breakthrough that can be relied upon to resume the consultations.
The French president insists on securing the minimum level of services for the Lebanese to fortify social security, which would reassure the military establishment and other security forces to enable them to maintain stability, according to the political source, who added that Gay Paree has almost given up hope that the ruling authority would be able to save Lebanon from collapse.
Meanwhile,
...back at the pound, the little lost dog had finished eating the rat terrier...
a source in the Shiite duo (Amal Movement and Hezbollah) told Asharq al-Awsat that their recent meeting with the head of the Free Patriotic Movement
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
, MP Gebran Bassil, did not achieve any progress in the government formation issue, as the latter insists on granting President Michel Aoun
...president of Leb, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hizbullah...
a share of eight portfolios in a government of 24 ministers.
Sources well-informed of the meeting that took place between Bassil and the representatives of Amal Movement and Hezbollah stressed that Aoun has entrusted the government negotiations to his "political heir", which means that he was willingly giving up his powers.
"Hariri’s patience will not last indefinitely," according to the sources, who noted that the premier-designate was waiting for final answers from Aoun’s team to make a decision about maintaining his efforts or abandoning his mission.
Pending the developments of the coming days, Hariri’s decision will be based on coordination with his allies and consultation with Speaker Nabih
KnobbyBerri
...Speaker of the Lebanese parliament, head of the Amal Shiite party aligned with Hezbollah, a not very subtle sock puppet of the Medes and Persians...
, who, for his part, launched an initiative to expedite the formation of the government.