Baabda palace issues decree of appointment of Marwan Khaireddine as state minister, replacing MP Talal Areslan

Finally, the Lebanese cabinet was completed on Monday with the appointment of Marwan Khaireddine as minister of state to replace the head of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Areslan.

Areslan has resigned shortly after the government, headed by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, was announced on June 13 in an expression of dissatisfaction over not being granted a portfolio, as he had requested.

Khaireddine’s appointment came in a presidential decree issued by the Baabda Presidential Palace.

Khaireddine held talks with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda palace at noon Wednesday, and attended the cabinet session for the first time at the Grand Serail.

Meanwhile, the cabinet was expected to appoint on Monday Brigadier General Abbas Ibrahim as director-general of the General Security Department and Brigadier General Raymond Khattar as the director-general of the Civil Defense Department.

In a related development, a decree was issued on Monday allowing the parliament to hold extraordinary sessions starting August 1.

Speaker Nabih Berri told Lebanese daily As-Safir that he will call on holding a parliamentary session next month. He noted that although the sessions coincide with the month of Ramadan, this will not stop him from insisting on holding them. “There are draft laws waiting to be settled,” Berri stressed.