Date: Aug 27, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Nasrallah rejects linking Syria ties to forming govt Hussein Dakroub| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said Sunday that the divisive issue of restoring political ties with Syria should not be a precondition to forming a new Cabinet, in a move apparently aimed at facilitating its formation. While calling on political adversaries to avoid creating new obstacles to the government formation process, Nasrallah said the sensitive issue of ties with the Syrian regime and the government’s policy statement – another potentially contentious topic – can be addressed after it has been formed. Nasrallah’s remarks came as Lebanon’s political class has been divided over whether Lebanon should engage directly with the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Hezbollah has been a long-standing ally of Assad and the party’s fighters have been aiding Assad’s forces in the 7-year-old war in Syria. They also came as the government formation has been deadlocked for three months by the problems of Christian and Druze representation, as well as demands by Sunni lawmakers not affiliated with the Future Movement to be represented in the next government. In a televised speech addressing a Hezbollah rally in the Bekaa city of Hermel marking the anniversary of the separate victories of the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah over Daesh (ISIS) and then-Nusra Front militants entrenched on Lebanon’s northeastern outskirts last summer, Nasrallah renewed his call for the swift formation of a new government, warning that time was running out. “We are still betting on internal dialogue [on government formation] ... but time is running out. We must speed up tackling this matter,” he said, speaking via a video link. Recalling that the government of former Prime Minister Tammam Salam took about 10 months to be formed due to parties’ bickering over the distribution of ministerial posts, Nasrallah warned against this happening now because of the worsening economic and financial situation and regional developments. “We don’t want anyone to put new obstacles to the government [formation]. The issue of relations with Syria and the [government’s] policy statement can be discussed after the government’s formation,” he said. Nasrallah’s stance appeared aimed at reining in Syria’s Lebanese allies, who have been pushing for the normalization of political ties with the Syrian regime despite opposition by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and his allies. Hariri and other Lebanese parties, namely the Lebanese Forces, reject any contacts with the regime before a political settlement is reached to end the conflict in Syria. The premier-designate was unequivocal in his rejection of normalizing ties, saying earlier this month that “no government would be formed” if some parties insisted on linking the Cabinet formation to ties with Syria. Hariri’s expected return to Beirut Monday from the Eid al-Adha holiday is likely to set stalled consultations on the government formation impasse back into motion.President Michel Aoun is also planning to float proposals to help resolve the government crisis after consulting with Hariri, a source at Baabda Palace told The Daily Star. Among the options being considered, the source said, is that Aoun “might either address the Lebanese or send a letter to Parliament explaining the obstacles facing the formation of a national unity government.” Another possibility is that Aoun might propose ideas to help overcome the hurdles delaying its formation, the source said. In his speech, Nasrallah also warned Lebanese politicians who, he said, were seeking to push the government formation until September, when they believe the Special Tribunal for Lebanon could issue its verdict in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A final decision is expected next year. “For those betting on the STL, I tell them: Don’t play with fire,” Nasrallah said, adding that the STL did not have “any legitimate value and did not mean anything for Hezbollah, whether it issued condemnation or acquittal” of four Hezbollah members indicted in the Hariri assassination. Meanwhile, former MP Walid Joumblatt, leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, said his party would not compromise on its demand for naming the three Druze ministers in the new government and rejected accusations that this demand was blocking the process. “We have been subjected to attempts of a political siege, but we broke it with our strong and solid will. We will not give up what we have achieved [in parliamentary elections] or back down on our commitments,” Joumblatt said during an event held in the Chouf village of Samqanieh Saturday night. “We are part of this homeland, where we offered martyrs, blood and sacrifices to defend our existence. ... How surprising that the political focus [is that] we are the hindering the formation of the new government,” he said. He called for the implementation of the 1989 Taif Accord that ended the 1975-90 Civil War and developing it by the creation of a senate after the election of nonsectarian Parliament, as stipulated by the accord. Joumblatt has insisted on appointing the three ministers allocated for the Druze sect in a 30-member Cabinet. His demand is aimed at preventing his Druze rival, MP Talal Arslan, from obtaining one of ministerial seats Despite major hurdles facing the government formation, LF leader Samir Geagea sounded optimistic, saying that the situation was not that hopeless. “The government will eventually be formed,” Geagea said an LF dinner held at his residence in Maarab Saturday night. “There is a tendency on the part of some to believe that the Lebanese situation is hopeless. This matter is not true at all. “These people also believe that the economic situation is miserable and we are in a pit from which we cannot emerge. This matter is also not true. “We can emerge from this pit with a little of political will, integrity and some steps,” he said. Geagea said that after its formation, the new government should take “bold decisions” by carrying out “radical reforms” in order to move the country to “a promising situation.” Geagea did not touch on last week’s fierce war of words between the LF and the Free Patriotic Movement that reflected their bitter struggle over Christian representation in the new government. Geagea and other LF ministers and lawmakers have blamed caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, the FPM leader, for the Cabinet formation standoff. They accuse him of seeking to prevent the LF from obtaining a significant Cabinet share based on the results of the May 6 parliamentary elections, when the party nearly doubled its number of MPs to 15 seats. But Bassil and other FPM officials have accused the LF of demanding more than its fair share in Cabinet. The LF is insisting on being allocated a sovereign ministry among the four ministerial portfolios it was reported to have accepted in the latest proposal to end the Cabinet formation stalemate.