Lebanon’s ex-PM Hariri says he would return to rule, with conditions

Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri says he is a "natural candidate" to lead Lebanon again

Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri says he is “the natural candidate” to take the premiership again, a year after nationwide protests forced his resignation.

But Mr Hariri, who has served as prime minister three times already, said he would only return if Lebanon’s sectarian parties agreed to a reform plan necessary to secure help from the International Monetary Fund. 

During an interview on Lebanese television on Thursday evening, Mr Hariri, a pro-Western Sunni leader and billionaire businessman who maintains close ties with the Gulf, said the only way out of Lebanon’s economic collapse was with international help.

Lebanon has been without a government since the cabinet resigned in the wake of the massive  August 4 Beirut port explosion that damaged whole neighbourhoods of the Lebanese capital. 

The country has been in crisis for much longer however, since Mr Hariri’s coalition government was forced out a year ago by massive nationwide protests demanding an end to corruption and an overthrow of the country’s entrenched political class that has run the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. 

Since then, Lebanon’s economy has collapsed, with the lira losing over 80 percent of its value and hyperinflation driving up prices. 

The deeply-indebted country defaulted for the first time in March and foreign donors say no more financial aid will be offered until Lebanon introduces reforms to reduce waste and corruption and improve transparency. 

But the country’s sectarian-based parties have repeatedly failed to agree on a reform plan and the country’s most recent prime minister designate Mustapha Adib stepped down on September 26 after not being able to form a cabinet. 

Amid horse-trading over ministerial posts, Iran-backed Hizbollah and its ally Amal are demanding they nominate the finance minister. 

But Mr Hariri says the militant Shiite group must be willing to compromise. “The Lebanese people are not responsible for the sanctions that are imposed on them [Hizbollah] and they have to make concessions," he said.

Mr Hariri said he fears another civil war, following recent clashes between clans and armed factions in the Bekaa valley and the outskirts of Beirut. 

"What is happening in terms of carrying arms and what we are seeing in terms of military displays in the street…means the collapse of the state," he said.