Senior US official Barbara Leaf said on Wednesday that “there is no rescue coming from the outside” for Lebanon as it struggles with a deepening economic crisis and endemic corruption.
Ms Leaf, the assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs nominee, stressed at her Senate confirmation hearing the need for Beirut to undertake urgent reforms before any outside aid is delivered.
“This [Lebanese] government having been formed is only the first minimal step on what has to be a long road of structural economic reform, which will then unlock international financing loans and other forms of foreign assistance,” said Ms Leaf, who currently serves as the Middle East director on the US National Security Council.
Last week, Lebanese leaders allowed Prime Minister Najib Mikati to form a government after more than a year of political paralysis. The Lebanese currency is in free fall, losing more than 90 per cent of its value since October 2019, and the country has experienced rampant fuel and medicine shortages.
Ms Leaf said the administration of President Joe Biden is working closely with the French government on a two-pronged strategy to help ease the crisis.
But this strategy requires “a need for pressure and inducements”, she added, saying that there is a “long, slow road ahead".
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Health Minister Firass Abiad, a gastrointestinal surgeon, is the chairman of the board of directors of Lebanon’s largest hospital, the Rafik Hariri Hospital. Photo: NNA -
Minister of Administrative Development Najla Riachi is the only woman in the Cabinet and has served in a number of diplomatic positions, including as Lebanon’s permanent representative to the UN from 2007 to 2017. Photo: NNA -
Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib served as Lebanon’s ambassador to the US between 1983 and 1990 and has worked for the Wold Bank. Photo: NNA -
Interior Minister Bassam Al Mawla was a judge of the Chamber of First Instance in Beirut before heading the North Lebanon criminal court. Photo: NNA -
Social Affairs Minister Hector Hajjar has worked for NGOs including Caritas and 'Risala Assalam' which supports people with special needs. Photo: NNA -
Economy Minister Amin Salam is a corporate lawyer and economist with a degree in leadership and management from the Harvard Kennedy School. Photo: NNA -
Agriculture Minister Abbas Al Hajj Hassan is a former journalist who worked at France 24 in Paris. He studied law and political science in France. Photo: NNA -
Defence Minister Maurice Salem served as the army's head of military medicine until his retirement at the rank of brigadier in 2012. Photo: NNA -
Minister of the Displaced Issam Sharafeddine is a pharmacist by training who branched out into the business world in the 1990s when he started producing soaps, cosmetics and cleaning products. Photo: NNA -
Information Minister George Kordahi worked as a journalist for MBC FM Radio in London and Lebanese television channel LBC. He is also a goodwill ambassador for the UN Environment Programme. Photo: NNA -
Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh holds a PhD in electronics and optical communications from the University of Western Brittany in France. He is a lecturer at a number of local universities. Photo: NNA -
Energy Minister Walid Fayyad is managing director of the Mena division at international consulting firm Partners in Performance. Photo: NNA -
Tourism Minister Walid Nassar has worked as a consultant for Lebanon’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: NNA -
Environment Minister Nasser Yassin is the current director of the Crisis Observatory at the American University of Beirut. Photo: NNA -
Labour Minister Moustafa Bayram is one of Hezbollah’s ministers in the Cabinet. He was appointed head legal observer in the audit department of the Council of Ministers in 1998. Photo: NNA -
Sports and Youth Minister George Kallas has held a number of administrative positions in Lebanese newspapers and universities and as a lecturer at the faculty of documentation and information at the Lebanese University. Photo: NNA -
Education Minister Abbas Halabi is a former judge and vice chairman of the board of directors and legal counsel at Lebanese bank BBAC and holds a degree in French and Lebanese law from Saint Joseph University in Beirut. He is vice president of the Lebanese National Commission for Unesco. Photo: Unesco -
Justice Minister Henry Khoury is the former head of the State Shura Council. Photo: NNA -
Industry Minister George Boujikian is a businessman who has founded several Lebanese companies including pharmaceutical companies Technoline and BioDiamond Middle East. He holds both Lebanese and Canadian citizenship. Photo: NNA
One option the White House is considering would entail requesting a waiver from Congress to allow fuel shipments to be sent to Lebanon from Egypt and Jordan through Syria. Normally, such transactions would be subject to US sanctions and a violation of the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act of 2019 (the Caesar Act).
At the hearing, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez, showed a willingness to make such an exemption, but only as a last resort.
On Iran, Ms Leaf committed to returning to the nuclear deal and to separately address Tehran’s behaviour.
“Iran's nuclear programme is untrammeled. So, the priority is getting it back into a box. But notwithstanding those diplomatic efforts in Vienna, the administration continues in parallel, in tandem to, on a constant basis, address the regional dimension of Iran's disruptive behaviour,” she said.
Several senators, including Mr Menendez, Jim Risch and Ted Cruz, have urged the administration to link any return to the deal with Tehran require that they change their regional behaviour.
The senators also pressed Ms Leaf to build on the progress made in the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
“If confirmed, I very much look forward to seizing the opportunities opened with those nascent relationships and expanding the circle beyond the four countries,” Ms Leaf, who is a former ambassador to the UAE, told the committee.
Ms Leaf also confirmed the partial hold on military aid to Egypt as a result of its human rights record but stressed the importance of the strategic partnership.
“We have long-standing national security interests and Egypt has been a strategic partner of enormous importance for the US, for the region and for Israel in particular,” she said.
In addition to serving as ambassador to the UAE, Ms Leaf has served in several positions at the State Department, including as deputy assistant secretary of state for the Arabian Peninsula, deputy assistant secretary for Iraq and the first director of the Office of Iranian Affairs.
