Date: Aug 31, 2018 Source: The Daily Star Hariri, Bassil to hold key talks in next 48 hours Joseph Haboush| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is set to hold make-or-break talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil within the next 48 hours on the Cabinet formation, political sources said Thursday. After sitting down with the Lebanese Forces and Progressive Socialist Party, Hariri is expected to meet with Bassil before the weekend is over. “Hariri will most likely head to Baabda Palace Saturday or Sunday to present him with a new Cabinet draft,” a senior political source told The Daily Star. A source from the presidential palace also said that Hariri is expected to meet with Bassil before heading to Baabda. “It is likely that after that, things will become clearer,” the source said. But if no progress is made in the coming days, “the Cabinet deadlock will go on until the end of the year,” the political source said, citing President Michel Aoun’s travels throughout the month of September. A Wednesday evening meeting between Hariri and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea did not appear to lead to significant new headway, with one political source saying, “it was not negative, but there is nothing new.” The Hariri-Geagea meeting ended with the premier-designate agreeing to push for four “service-related” ministries for the LF, in the event that no sovereign ministry or the position of deputy prime minister was secured for the party. “The LF said they want four ministries out of these five: Health, Justice, Social Affairs, Energy and Public Works,” the senior source said “The FPM has said no way and that they’ll agree to the LF getting two of these ministries at most.” In an extension to the Geagea-Hariri meeting, the LF leader asked caretaker Information Minister Melhem Riachi to inform Speaker Nabih Berri of the details of Geagea and Hariri’s meet. Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil joined the meeting after a separate sit-down with Hariri at the premier-designate’s Downtown Beirut residence. Following the meeting with Berri, Riachi stressed the LF’s preparedness to help “facilitate a new, balanced government ... reflecting the results of [May’s] parliamentary elections. Riachi, speaking to reporters after the meeting, said the LF went to the “farthest boundaries” in order to help the prime minister-designate form a Cabinet in the fastest time possible. Riachi played down reports that the LF was obstructing the formation of a new government, saying, “We are carrying out our duties and what concerns us. We are not the ones who [are supposed to] form a government.” The LF-FPM rivalry is one of the main stumbling blocks to the formation of a new Cabinet, with both sides claiming they deserve certain shares for the Christian community. The LF’s Ghassan Hasbani, current caretaker deputy prime minister, said in an interview Thursday with TV channel Al-Mustaqbal that his party has already conceded to many of its demands. “The LF was very flexible in cooperating with the formation of the government, [but] have reached a stage where they can no longer [compromise].” It has been reported that Bassil is looking for veto power in any new government, while the LF is demanding one of the four sovereign ministries – Interior, Foreign, Finance or Defense. The Druze representation is another hurdle for Hariri, as PSP leader Walid Joumblatt is adamant on naming all three ministers reserved for the Druze sect. Political rivals, including pro-Syrian MP Talal Arslan insist that it’s unfair for Joumblatt to represent the entire sect. Talks on this were at the center of Thursday’s meeting between Hariri and PSP MP Wael Abu Faour. Abu Faour left after the discussions without making any public comments. But a source told The Daily Star Abu Faour refused any intervention from Berri or others to find a resolution to the Druze representation. “He told Hariri that the Progressive Socialist Party insists on three PSP, Druze ministers in the Cabinet,” the source said. A separate obstacle, and one that has come back to the fore, is the question of Sunni representation outside Hariri’s Future Movement. Several Sunni MPs who do not belong to the Future Movement have been calling for representation in the new Cabinet, as Future seeks to claim all ministerial seats allocated to the Sunni sect. MP Walid Sukkarieh, after a bloc meeting held in Beirut’s Nijmeh Square, said they “have the right to be represented.” There have been unconfirmed reports that a number of these MPs traveled to Syria recently in attempts to have the regime of President Bashar Assad press for their representation. Meanwhile, Hezbollah criticized the prolonged delay in government formation Thursday, saying it was “damaging” the country, in a statement released after the group’s weekly bloc meeting. “We emphasize the negative impacts of the [lack of] government formation and the damaging effects on Lebanon and the Lebanese,” the statement said, read by MP Ali Moqdad. “The opportunity to invest in Lebanon’s [potential] ... resources requires a full, national government with complete prerogatives for protection,” Moqdad said. The party also criticized what it called the absence of set criteria on “which participation and balanced representation will be achieved in [the new Cabinet].” In addition, Hezbollah indirectly called for Lebanon to re-evaluate its communication with Syria, saying Lebanon should “review its strategic position and reconsider some of its regional and international relations” in light of recent developments. The statement added that this should be done “in light of [Lebanon’s] commitment to protect its national sovereignty and prevent the infiltration of the Israeli enemy through normalizing its relations with some Arab countries in an effort to penetrate the region.” Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon also called for Lebanese-Syrian dialogue in order to facilitate the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland. In an interview published by local daily Al Joumhouria Thursday, Alexander Zasypkin said Russia encourages Lebanese-Syrian talks “but without pressuring [Lebanon].” “We know the [special case] of Lebanon and we know that there is not a unified stance from Lebanese political parties regarding ties with Syria,” he said. Political camps inside Lebanon have been sharply divided over whether or not direct communication with Assad’s regime should take place.