Following yesterday’s, Tuesday September 15, negative speculation around the governmental formation after multiple French deadlines were imposed, many indicators that Mostafa Adib might be stepping down from his appointment appeared. Diplomatic sources to “Nidaa al-Watan” newspaper verified that diplomatic lines of communication between Paris and Beirut will peak within the next 24 hours in a last-ditch effort to rescue the French initiative. Otherwise, each party will be left to assume its responsibilities, and Lebanon will be left to its own fate.
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The diplomatic sources stressed to “Nidaa al-Watan” that: “Everything that has been said about the recent US sanctions being the reason behind aborting the French initiative is unfounded. It is merely an ill-conceived attempt to evade Lebanon’s direct responsibility for disrupting the initiative. The sanctions have been moving along a well known and measurable path for quite some time, and they have been doing so following clear mechanisms and guidelines—distant from the French initiative and its components. Attempts to lure Paris into a clash with Washington might have negative repercussions on Lebanon such as President Macron deciding to impose his own sanctions alongside the United States’ on Lebanese officials.
As Mostafa Adib postpones his visit to Baabda today, there will be more time afforded for communication and negotiation. Sources told LBCI that: “The head of the French foreign intelligence service, Bernard Emier, has made several phone calls, and the initiative was given 24 additional hours. These 24 hours will be used to complete all necessary communications in order to resolve the governmental formation that the initiative set out to achieve.”
Seemingly, a solution has begun to loom in the horizon in terms of the Shiite participation which is monopolized by Nabih Berri. LBCI has learned that the atmosphere in Ein el-Tineh indicates that the negotiation process is going to be put back on the right track.
