BEIRUT — Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said on Wednesday
the country could face chaos before it can recover from a financial meltdown.
Crushed under a mountain of debt and decades of graft,
Lebanon has plunged into its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
اضافة اعلان
Aoun, a former army commander, and Saad Al-Hariri, a
three-time premier who was designated prime minister in October, have been
locked in a standoff over the makeup of a new cabinet as the crisis worsens.
Scenes of shoppers brawling over goods, protesters blocking
roads, and shuttered businesses are now commonplace.
"I will hand over the country better than when it was
handed to me ... but I fear the cost will be very high, (there) may be chaos
before that," Aoun said in comments published by Lebanese television
channel Al-Jadeed. Aoun's term expires in 2022.
The president, whose party run by his son-in-law leads the
biggest Christian bloc in parliament, told a reporter at Al-Jadeed he feared
the dangers looming over Lebanon threatened its very existence.
The currency has lost most of its value, making more than
half the population poor. Last August's port blast, which devastated parts of
Beirut and killed 200 people, deepened the country's misery.
The deadlock has persisted since Aoun warned in September
that the country was going "to hell" without a new government.
Foreign donors have made clear they will not bail out
Lebanon before its leaders agree a new cabinet.
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