Center House Says Baabda Can Call Hariri if It Agrees to 'Initiative'

Official sources at the presidential palace hinted Thursday that Baabda wants the latest initiative to resolve the cabinet crisis to succeed, as they criticized PM-designate Saad Hariri for traveling to the UAE.

“The train of the initiative took off from Baabda but the Center House stop seems to be closed and the person in charge of it has traveled,” the sources told the privately-run Central News Agency.

Center House sources meanwhile snapped back, telling the agency that “no one should take PM Hariri’s travel as an excuse.”

“He left for hours and his phone is with him. If they agree to the initiative, they can call him to return,” the sources said.

The Center House's response was retweeted by Hussein al-Wajeh, the media adviser of Hariri.

According to al-Jadeed TV, Hariri traveled earlier in the day to the UAE on a private visit.

Speaker Nabih Berri, with support from Hizbullah and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, has launched an initiative calling for the formation of a 24-minister cabinet based on an 8-8-8 formula.

The aforementioned formula does not grant any camp a one-third-plus-one veto power.

Hariri has reportedly agreed to the proposal while still insisting on a cabinet of specialists.