Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri announced Thursday that he would be stepping down, citing "key differences" with President Michel Aoun.
Hariri told reporters that he had given up on forming a Cabinet that he and Aoun could agree on after a meeting with the president,
“It is clear we will not be able to reach an agreement with his excellency the president,” Hariri said. “That is why I am excusing myself from forming a government.”
Lebanon has not had a government since the previous Cabinet resigned following the deadly port explosion that rocked the capital of Beirut last August. Over 200 people were killed in the blast, which also left thousands injured and devastated much of the city.
Hariri was appointed Prime Minister-delegate nine months ago in the wake of the explosion.
Lebanon, long beset by governmental corruption and under the grip of the Iranian-controlled Hezbollah terrorist organization, is teetering on the edge of economic collapse.