Political Standoff Expected between Batroun's Harb, Bassil in Cabinet

A political standoff is expected to arise in the cabinet between newly appointed ministers Jebran Bassil and Butros Harb, who both hail from the northern city of Batroun.

The dispute is likely to tackle Bassil's activities in the Ministry of Telecommunications since he took office in 2011, and the services he might have offered to the people of his hometown.

Bassil, who failed to make it as a Batroun representative at the parliament after running in the 2005 and 2009 elections, was named as an Energy and as a Telecommunications minister in several consecutive cabinets and since then, was able to boost his popularity in Batroun which was noticeable in the 2009 elections' results.

Harb, meanwhile, was the Minister of Labor between 2009 and 2011 in former Prime Minister Saad Hariri's cabinet.