BEIRUT—Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab and his cabinet resigned Monday under pressure from protests that have sought to overturn the country’s political leadership following last week’s deadly explosion that devastated large parts of central Beirut.
“I set out to combat corruption, but I discovered that corruption is bigger than the state,” said Mr. Diab in a televised address. “I declare today the resignation of this government. God bless Lebanon.”
Beirut has been rocked by protests in recent days, with thousands of people demanding justice for the more than 150 killed in the blast. The explosion, which occurred when a fire at a warehouse ignited a cache of chemicals, destroyed a swath of the capital’s city center, including thousands of homes and businesses, the port of Beirut and much of the city’s famed nightlife district.
Rather than resolving the political and economic crisis in Lebanon, the cabinet’s resignation is likely to trigger more political instability in one of the Middle East’s most important centers of culture and finance and an enclave of relative stability next to war-torn Syria.
Protesters, Tear Gas in Lebanese Capital
Saturday and Sunday’s demonstrations stretched over central Beirut
Protesters gathered near parliament in Beirut on Monday as lawmakers sought to nominate a successor to Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who announced his resignation in the wake of the deadly explosion.SAM TARLING FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Riot police patrolled antigovernment protests in Martyrs’ Square in BeirutSAM TARLING FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Not only do we have an absence of government and a political vacuum, but we’re going to have a severe problem with the function of the state of Lebanon,” said Imad Salamey, a political scientist at Lebanese American University in Beirut. “We are heading toward the unknown.”
Following the resignation, Mr. Diab’s cabinet becomes a caretaker government with limited powers until a new government is formed, which is expected to occur through a pact among the country’s rival political factions. In the past, it has taken months to form a cabinet as the nation’s parties hammer out a deal that satisfies a complex set of political interests and religious groups. Mr. Diab said over the weekend that he would request early elections, but no timeline has been set for a vote.
Before Mr. Diab resigned, Lebanon’s political factions withdrew support for the government and a series of key officials quit the cabinet in recent days, including the ministers of finance, justice and health.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab, right, handed his resignation to President Michel Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda, Lebanon, on Monday.PHOTO: DALATI & NOHRA/REUTERS
The cabinet’s dissolution shows how much the Lebanese public has turned against the country’s political leaders, including politicians from a range of religious and political factions. For many Lebanese, the explosion symbolized government ineptitude that underpinned an economic crisis in recent months.
The resignation is unlikely to resolve the crisis. Lebanon’s economy remains in free fall, and protesters are increasingly demanding an overhaul to the entire political system, not simply a replacement of the government.
Lebanon’s constitution is designed to share power among the country’s Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and other religious groups. Many of Lebanon’s political leaders are former warlords from the country’s civil war in the 1980s, and many Lebanese now view the entire political class as responsible for decades of corruption and neglect that culminated in last week’s explosion.
Lebanon’s political system is also an arena for competition among regional powers such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as France. Iran is a sponsor of Hezbollah, the Shiite-led armed group that is also Lebanon’s most powerful political party. Iran’s rival, Saudi Arabia, has a history of ties with Lebanon’s Sunni Muslim politicians.
Days after a massive explosion rocked the city of Beirut, WSJ’s Dion Nissenbaum visits the blast site. Photo: Dion Nissenbaum for the Wall Street Journal
Mr. Diab’s government lasted less than eight months. It was formed in January after the former prime minister, Saad Hariri, stepped aside in late 2019 under pressure from protests that demanded political reform and an end to corruption.
Lebanon’s government was under intense pressure before the blast. Multiple deep-rooted problems—from an economic tailspin to rolling power cuts and spreading hunger—have shaken the country severely. The explosion capped a series of crises that have underlined the government’s failure to address Lebanon’s most pressing challenges.
Over the weekend, thousands of demonstrators surged into central Beirut, marching on government buildings and briefly seizing control of a series of ministries, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before security forces retook the buildings.
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“The people demand the fall of the regime!” chanted a large crowd of demonstrators in downtown Beirut on Sunday night as some shot fireworks at ranks of security officers, who fired tear gas. Fires burned in the streets as protesters beat rocks against metal railings and doors, producing a banging sound.
Protests continued on Monday, with demonstrators clashing with security forces who fired tear gas outside Lebanon’s parliament. At least 25 protesters were injured in the clashes, according to the Lebanese Red Cross.
Foreign leaders were also putting pressure on the Lebanese government. French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Beirut following the blast, has called for an international investigation of the explosion. He said the United Nations, not the Lebanese government, would handle hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that foreign countries pledged Sunday.
The Lebanese public has blamed the country’s political leaders for the blast, which occurred after a store of explosive chemicals ignited in the port of Beirut on August 4, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands of others. The 2,750 metric tons of the explosive ammonium nitrate had sat at the port for years after it was loaded off a leaking ship.
Lebanese leaders sought to deflect blame over the blast by endorsing a probe that has so far homed in on junior officials.
The current Lebanese government had formed early this year after the previous government dissolved late last year following a wave of mass protests calling for an overhaul of Lebanon’s political system. Mr. Diab’s cabinet had sought to present itself as a group of technocratic officials independent of the country’s sectarian political parties. However, all cabinet members were selected by Hezbollah and its allies.
The aftermath of the explosion at the seaport of Beirut. The blast killed more than 150 people and injured thousands of others.PHOTO: BILAL HUSSEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lebanon’s political system is based on a power-sharing model that assigns executive and legislative roles to individuals according to their sect. Parliament contains an even number of Christians and Muslims. Historically, the prime minister is always a Sunni, the speaker of parliament a Shiite and the president Christian. Political parties have monopolized the representation of sects, and a handful of groups dominate the political scene.
Before the blast Lebanon was experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades, along with an accelerating coronavirus outbreak and recurring antigovernment protests. The country’s ballooning debt, its banking sector’s collapse and a lockdown imposed to curb the virus have intensified those economic troubles. Lebanon’s poor and middle class have been the worst hit by the crisis, with many going hungry as sections of the country went dark during long power cuts. The country is also suffering from hyperinflation and soaring unemployment.
Donor countries pledged €252.7 million ($297.8 million) to aid Lebanon at a conference in Paris on Sunday that included at least 28 counties. The U.S., Brazil, Australia, Germany, the U.K, China and Japan all took part in the U.N.-backed summit organized by France. Mr. Macron’s announcement that the aid effort would be overseen by the U.N. instead of the Lebanese government reflected international concerns about corruption, mismanagement and a lack of transparency