New government in crisis-hit Lebanon ends 3-month vacuum

Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, meets with Prime Minister-Designate Hassan Diab, right,  at the Presidential Palace, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun, center, meets with Prime Minister-Designate Hassan Diab, right, at the Presidential Palace, Lebanon, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. Copyright AP Photo/Bilal HusseinBilal Hussein
By AP
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The move, which comes three months after former Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned, is unlikely to satisfy protesters.

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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. 

READ MORE: Lebanese resume protests demanding end to political vacuum

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.

The country has been without a government since Hariri resigned on Oct. 29, two weeks into the unprecedented nationwide protest movement.

READ MORE: At least 150 injured in Lebanese capital after violent clashes between protesters and police

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