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Country will go 'to hell' unless cabinet formed, warns Lebanon President Aoun

WION Web Team
BeirutUpdated: Sep 22, 2020, 01:16 PM IST
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File photo. Photograph:(Reuters)

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US secretary Mike Pompeo had said earlier that, 'Business as usual in Lebanon just is unacceptable'

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun warned that the country was headed to "hell" if a new cabinet is not appointed quickly.

In a televised address to the nation, Aoun said: "With the entrenchment of positions, no solution seems imminent", and added later that a "miracle" could help in a political breakthrough.

Lebanon's prime minister-designate Mustapha Adib has been pressing hard to strike a deal to form the cabinet. French President Emmanuel Macron had earlier given Lebanon's leaders a two-week deadline to form a government which passed last week.  

Lebanon's capital Beirut was hit by a deadly blast last month in which at least 180 people were killed and several hundred injured amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Macron had travelled to Beirut in the aftermath of the blasts and had called for political reforms amid the chaos as residents welcomed him and openly discussed the issues related to the country.

US secretary Mike Pompeo had said earlier that, "Business as usual in Lebanon just is unacceptable", while adding, "This has to be a government that conducts significant reforms."

"I am counting on everyone's cooperation to form a government whose task will be to implement what was agreed upon with President Macron," Adib had said earlier.

Another fire had hit the Beirut's commercial district earlier in the month amid recovery efforts from the August 4 blasts. Fire trucks quickly moved to put out the flames.