NASRALLAH LASHES OUT AT HARIRI

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah slammed Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri for proposing a Cabinet line-up that he says will only complicate the situation in Lebanon. Hariri submitted a 30-seat coalition cabinet to President Michel Sleiman on September 14, more than three months after his alliance won a general election, but the Shia Hizbullah-led opposition rejected the move. “I do not believe this way of doing things will lift Lebanon from the crisis over the formation of the new government,” Nasrallah said in a closed televised speech to women organisations the same day. Hizbullah said the minority opposition would “stand up to this inadequate measure, and in complete solidarity.” Nasrallah said each parliamentary bloc has the right to name its ministers and the cabinet portfolios it wants. He reiterated that there was no law that prevents giving Cabinet seats to candidates who had lost the polls, in reference to the majority’s rejection to reappoint Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil for a second term.