A new Cabinet was announced in crisis-hit Lebanon late Tuesday, breaking a months-long impasse amid ongoing mass protests against the country's ruling elite.
Hassan Diab, a 60-year-old professor at the American University of Beirut, now heads a Cabinet of 20 members, mostly specialists backed by political parties.
The move, which comes three months after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned, is unlikely to satisfy protesters. They have been calling for sweeping reforms and a government made up of independent technocrats that could deal with the country's crippling economic and financial crisis, the worst this tiny Mediterranean country has faced in decades.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, meets with Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab, right, and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, left, at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)
The country has been without a government since Hariri resigned on Oct. 29, two weeks into the unprecedented nationwide protest movement.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, left, meets with Prime Minister-Designate Hassan Diab at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, left, meets with Prime Minister-Designate Hassan Diab at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, east of Beirut,, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (AP PhotoBilal Hussein)