The United States said Thursday’s resignation of Saad Hariri as Lebanon’s prime minister-designate was “disappointing.”

“It is critical that a government committed and able to implement priority reforms be formed now,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Hariri abandoned his efforts to form a government nine months after accepting the nomination.

The country is deep in crisis and international donors remain adamant that a government must be established before they can provide funding.

But political squabbling has repeatedly stymied such efforts and sent the currency to unprecedented lows that leave imported medicine and fuel increasingly unaffordable.

“Lebanon’s political class has squandered the last nine months,” Blinken said in a statement. “The Lebanese economy is in free-fall and the current government is not providing basic services in a reliable fashion.”

“Leaders in Beirut must urgently put aside partisan differences and form a government that serves the Lebanese people.”

In his latest speech, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said that Lebanon has been suffering from a harsh economic and social crisis, but stressed that the US like-blockade imposed on the country has been making the situation tougher.

The Lebanese Resistance leader called on Lebanese officials to have the courage and defy the US sanctions by pressing for approving projects with Eastern countries in a bid to salvage Lebanon from the collapse.

Source: Agencies