Lebanese officials announced they have formed a new government after ten months of political crisis.
Beirut has been without a government since Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s resignation in March 2013.
Tammam Salam was nominated as prime minister in April 2013 but had been unable to form a government because of deep division between Shiite Hezbollah and Sunni politicians over the conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Last month the Sunnis announced they would work with Hezbollah and its allies despite opposing their military support for Assad in Syria.
The secretary general of Lebanon’s Council of Ministers named the new cabinet ministers in a televised news conference.
Former energy minister Gebran Bassil was appointed foreign minister and former health minister Ali Hassan Khalil takes over the Finance Ministry, with parliamentarian Nouhad Machnouk appointed interior minister.
Salam was named as the head of the new government in a presidential decree .
Sectarian divisions in Lebanon reflect those in neighboring Syria. There has been an increase in violence and bomb attacks in the capital Beirut in recent months.
