Lebanon heading towards anarchy after PM Hariri’s resignation, worry political analysts

Beirut: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri declared that ‘I have failed to fulfil the demands of the Lebanese people, to control corruption and extremism in the country. I, therefore, surrender to the historic protests and submit my resignation.’ The protestors welcomed the resignation of Prime Minister Hariri and said that the protests would continue till the time all the other significant leaders resigned. Under such circumstances, the demonstrations ongoing in the country and Prime Minister Hariri’s resignation, has led the country towards anarchy, fears a Lebanon-based political analyst.

The people of Lebanon have called on anti-government protests for the last two weeks. The protestors demanded the government formed by the Future Movement Party of Hariri, in coalition with the parties of the ‘Hezbollah’ and the ‘Free Patriotic Movement’ (FPM), step down. The protestors alleged that the corruption peaked while the extremism exacerbated during the government’s tenure.

The governor of the Lebanese central bank had warned that the Lebanese economy would crumble if the protests were not arrested in time. Within a few hours of the warning, Prime Minister Hariri accepted responsibility for the demonstrations and resigned. The protestors have welcomed the resignation although President Michel Aoun and the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, Nabih Berri, has expressed surprise. An analyst of the Free Patriotic Movement, a political party, connected with Hezbollah, informed that anarchy and instability were now more probable in Lebanon.

Hariri is neither willing to partner with President Michel Aoun nor with any other political party in the government to claim power. However, barring Hariri none of the other political parties, Hezbollah, Amal or FPM have the numbers to form a government. Despite that, if Hezbollah and other affiliated parties formed a government in Lebanon, sanctions would be imposed on the country, the analyst said. At the same time, the aid of $11 billion sanctioned for the Hariri government would also be withdrawn.

In that scenario, the analyst feared the anti-extremism protests in Lebanon would flare up, leading to chaos.

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