Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that the only way out of Lebanon’s financial crisis was the formation of a viable cabinet. Prime minister-designate Saad al-Hariri has been at loggerheads for months with President Michel Aoun, an ally of the powerful Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, over cabinet positions.

”The only realistic thing for the Lebanese today is that the prime minister-designate, in cooperation with the president, forms a government,” Nasrallah said in televised comments.

He said there were only two ways to solve the deadlock – either the two leaders meet and decide on a government, or they do so with the help of veteran parliament speaker Nabih Berri. ”The only friend who is capable of offering help is him because of his status and personal experience,” Nasrallah said.

Berri, also the leader of the Shi’ite Amal Movement, has repeatedly said that government formation was the only way to save Lebanon from financial collapse.

Lebanon’s economic meltdown has pushed much of the population into poverty and poses the biggest threat to stability since the 1975-1990 civil war.

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First Published:May 26, 2021 2:41 PM IST