Aoun warns Lebanon will go “to hell” unless government agreed

President Michel Aoun warned on Monday Lebanon was going “to hell” if a new government was not formed, and said agreeing one could need a miracle after positions had hardened between rival factions.

Aoun said his proposals for compromise had not been accepted. He depicted the problem as a standoff between the Shi’ite parties on the one hand and Sunni Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib along with former prime ministers who support him on the other.

When asked where Lebanon was headed if there was no agreement, Aoun said “of course, to hell”.

Asked by reporters if his comments meant there was no hope of a new government, he said: “No, there might be a miracle”.

“We are today facing a government formation crisis which should not have happened because the events that await Lebanon do not allow a minute to be wasted,” said the president, a Maronite Christian under the country’s sectarian power-sharing system.