BEIRUT: Talks on forming a new Lebanese government are progressing slowly, premier-designate Najib Mikati said on Thursday, a day after police cracked down on protesters during the grim first anniversary of a deadly port blast.
"We made progress today, and even if the progress was slow, we are determined to form a government," Mikati said after meeting with President Michel Aoun.
The meeting was a "positive step forward", Mikati told reporters, but refused to set himself a deadline to present a finalised cabinet line-up. Lebanon is facing one of the world's worst economic crises in modern history.
But its deeply divided politicians have for more than 11 months failed to agree on a new government to launch reforms, a key condition to unlock billions of dollars in international financial aid.
The government of Hassan Diab, who is still caretaker prime minister, resigned en masse last summer after a huge explosion of fertiliser at the Beirut port killed at least 214 people.
Mikati, who has been prime minister twice before and is also the country's richest man, was designated on July 26 to form a government after his two predecessors threw in the towel.
Thousands gathered near the Beirut port on Wednesday as Lebanon marked one year since hundreds of tonnes of ammonium nitrate exploded on the dockside.
All paid tribute to the victims, but many expressed anger that officials who had known about the hazardous materials stored unsafely at the port for years had still not been held to account.
Dozens were hurt when Lebanese police clashed with protesters demanding accountability over the disaster.
A donor conference on Wednesday collected $370 million in pledges for urgent humanitarian aid for the Lebanese people, but the international community has held back on any financial aid to the cash-strapped state.
Last month's designation of 65-year-old Mikati, seen by many as a symbol of Lebanon's corrupt oligarchy, was met with scepticism both at home and abroad.
Mikati, a businessman-politician, has been trying to form the government since he was designated last month in place of Saad al Hariri, who gave up after nine months of trying, saying he could not agree with President Michel Aoun.
"Today's meeting was a positive step forward," Mikati said after meeting Aoun. "Today we made progress ... even if the progress was slow. But we are persevering, and insistent on forming the government," he said.
Meanwhile, Lebanon's Hizbullah fired a volley of rockets at Israeli positions, prompting retaliatory shelling, in an escalation between the movement and the Jewish state.
A flare-up along the border this week has seen Israel carry out its first air strikes on Lebanese territory in seven years and Hizbullah claim a direct rocket attack on Israeli territory for the first time since 2019.
The exchanges coincide with rising tensions between Iran and Israel since a deadly attack on an Israeli-managed tanker in the Gulf of Oman last week. Following Friday morning's exchange, Israel said it did "not wish to escalate to a full war", as the United Nations peacekeeping force in the border region, UNIFIL, warned of "a very dangerous situation". - Reuters/AFP
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