Report: Berri Expected to Discuss Govt. Formation in Meeting with Bassil

As part of efforts to reach an agreement on a new government, Speaker Nabih Berri will likely hold talks with head of Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc MP Jebran Bassil in Ain el-Tineh, Saudi Asharq el-Awsat newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the daily, President Michel Aoun was the one to ask Berri to receive Bassil for talks on the government.

The meeting could expand to include political aide to Hizbullah leader Hussein Khalil, and Berri’s political aide Hassan Khalil, said the daily.

Berri has been meeting with senior officials in a bid to facilitate the formation of a new government after the resignation of PM Hassan Diab over the colossal Beirut port explosion, widely blamed on negligence and corruption by the country's ruling class.

Sources following the ongoing consultations to name a replacement for Diab, said that Berri has asserted during talks with Lebanese and foreign officials that ex-PM Saad Hariri is what the upcoming stage in crisis-hit Lebanon needs.

An-Nahar daily said Berri-Bassil talks are aimed at “easing the hurdles hampering the formation of a new government, and to appease the atmospheres before French President Emmanuel Macron re-visits Beirut early next month.”

In a show of solidarity with the Lebanese, Macron visited Lebanon two days after the devastating explosion that flattened large parts of the capital.