BEIRUT, LEBANON (4:45 P.M.) – One of the leading candidates for the premiership of the Lebanese government, Samir Al-Khatib, announced his reluctance to accept the mission after meeting the Lebanese Grand Mufti.
The most likely candidate to head the next Lebanese government, Samir Al-Khatib, announced his withdrawal from the efforts to form the new government in the country, indicating that it was agreed to assign the head of the caretaker government to Saad Hariri.
Khatib said in a televised speech that after meeting with the Grand Mufti, Abdul Latif Derian, “I learned from his eminence as a result of meetings and consultations and contacts with members of the community, it was agreed to designate Saad Hariri to form a government, and therefore I will go to the center house to meet with Hariri to inform him.”
He explained that Dar Al-Iftaa did not adopt his name for the new government, stressing that “the Mufti is one of the supporters of President Saad Hariri, who is making efforts to advance and support his Arab and international role.”
On Saturday, the head of the caretaker government in Lebanon, Saad Hariri, sent a number of messages to leaders and officials in Germany, Britain and Spain related to solving the economic crisis, the most important of which was to secure basic import requirements.
