Washington is pressuring top Lebanese officials not to allow Hezbollah or its allies to nominate the country's next finance minister, five people with knowledge of the matter said, in an attempt to limit the Iran-backed group's sway over the state.
intervention in Lebanon's sectarian politics appears aimed at capitalising on shifts in the power balance in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, with Iran-backed Hezbollah badly pummelled from last year's war with Israel and its Syrian ally Bashar al-Assad ousted from power.
Amal Movement, which has picked all of Lebanon's finance ministers since 2014.
Nawaf Salam forms a new cabinet, the five sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the press.
Joseph Aoun - who enjoyed US support as army commander and was elected president in early January - that Hezbollah should not be included in the next cabinet.
Massad Boulos, whom US President Donald Trump appointed as an adviser on Middle Eastern affairs, was among those conveying that message to Lebanon.
Reuters questions on whether the US has weighed in on Hezbollah's role in the cabinet or Boulos's role.
Al Jadeed TV he looked forward to the government being formed without "those whose experience is with the previous system" to restore international confidence.
Reuters that allowing Hezbollah or Amal to nominate the finance minister would hurt Lebanon's chances of accessing foreign funds to help meet a huge reconstruction bill from last year's war, in which Israeli air strikes flattened swathes of the country.
US 'Red Line'
weakened, the demands of Lebanon's Shi'ite community should not be ignored and that Hezbollah had a role in the political landscape.
nominated on 13 January to form Lebanon's new cabinet. He had won the backing of most lawmakers but not Hezbollah or the Amal Movement.
Al Hurra on Tuesday that his party had nominated lawmaker and former minister Yassin Jaber for the post.
Three of the sources who spoke to Reuters for this story said the US had no objections to the post going to a Shi'ite Muslim but that it did not want to see Amal or Hezbollah name the minister directly.
Lebanon was in a new phase and that it was unacceptable for Hezbollah and its allies "to enjoy the same privileges" it once had, including by "obtaining sensitive ministries such as finance."
Reuters.
Reuters.
political tensions in Lebanon, with the Christian Lebanese Forces Party - a staunch opponent of Hezbollah - threatening to boycott the government if Hezbollah and Amal name that minister and other key positions.
(Reuters)
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