FPM Denies Report Claiming Bassil-Hariri Talks weren't Positive

Sources from the Free Patriotic Movement's Strong Lebanon bloc have denied a media report claiming that FPM chief MP Jebran Bassil's latest Paris meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri “was not positive.”

MTV had described the meeting as futile and quoted sources close to Hariri as saying that “should Hizbullah insist on representing the anti-Mustaqbal Sunni opposition, let them find someone other than Hariri to lead the government.”

Other obstacles delaying the new government are reportedly the number of seats that should be allocated to the Lebanese Forces and whether or not MP Talal Arslan should be given a portfolio.

Hariri was tasked with forming the new government on May 24.