Lebanese officials announced they have formed a new government after ten months of political crisis.<br /><br />Beirut has been without a government since Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s resignation in March 2013.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Last month the Sunnis announced they would work with Hezbollah and its allies despite opposing their military support for Assad in Syria.<br /><br />The secretary general of Lebanon’s Council of Ministers named the new cabinet ministers in a televised news conference.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Salam was named as the head of the new government in a presidential decree .<br /><br />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.
