BEIRUT (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd August, 2020) Lebanese Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti officially submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday after disputes in the government on some core issues to resolve the lasting economic and financial crises in the country, according to Hitti's official statement, a copy of which was seen by Sputnik.
According to some news outlets, the minister's resignation is taking place against the backdrop of differing views between Hitti and Diab. A source in the country's Foreign Ministry told Sputnik that there were several attempts over the past two days to change his mind on the matter, but Hitti, however, insisted on his decision.
"I have worked in this government under the terms that I have one employer, and its name is Lebanon, but I figured out that there is a range of them, as well as contradictory interests [between the parties]. If they do not unite efforts for the sake of the Lebanese nation and its rescue, so then, a boat, God forbid, will go down with everyone aboard," Hitti said.
Lebanon has been suffering from the worst economic crisis in 30 years, which has prompted mass nationwide demonstrations to break out across the country since October 2019 and resulted in the resignation of then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri's government.
Along with the deteriorating financial situation, the country's economy has also been affected by the sanctions that have come under the recently introduced US Caesar law, targeting Lebanon's neighboring middle East partner � the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad and its allies.
In April, Diab's government unveiled an economic recovery plan, which includes large-scale reforms and financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, with which talks are progressing rather slowly.
