Hariri said willing to return as Lebanon PM, if given power to implement reforms

Resigned Lebanese PM Saad aHariri is reportedly willing to return to the post — with some conditions, according to a source speaking to the Reuters news service today.

Hariri was asked today by Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun to stay on in a caretaker capacity, but may be willing to remain a full-fledged PM if his new cabinet “includes technocrats and [will] be capable of quickly implementing reforms needed to stave off economic collapse,” Reuters reports.

The agency explains Lebanon’s dire political situation:

“Hariri resigned after nearly two weeks of massive protests against the political elite, accused by demonstrators of overseeing rampant state corruption, saying he had hit a ‘dead end’ in trying to resolve the crisis.

“The senior official, who declined to be identified, said any new cabinet led by Hariri should be devoid of a group of top-tier politicians who were in the outgoing coalition government, without naming them.

“The outgoing cabinet comprised top representatives of most of Lebanon’s sectarian parties, among them foreign minister Gebran Bassil of the Christian Free Patriotic Movement who has been a prominent target of protesters. Bassil is a political ally of the powerful Iran-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah, which had opposed the government’s resignation and has yet to comment on the resignation of Hariri, a long-time opponent of the group.”