and the individual cabinet members were named.

Siniora said: "I have great hope that this Cabinet will function as a united working team to confront the great challenges facing us."

He added that he was "proud" of Hizbullah's chief representative Mohammad Fneish's participation in the ministry and promised the Cabinet would work on improving relations with Syria.

Siniora further said: "Lebanon wanted to have strong relations with Syria based on mutual interests and respect."

General Aoun's FPM was exluded from the cabinet lineup. Commenting on Aoun's exclusion, he added: "I had made numerous attempts to include Aoun and his allies in the cabinet but things did not work out."

The 24-member Cabinet includes 12 Christians and 12 Muslims.
It includes several ministers close to Lahoud, including former Information Minister Charles Rizk, who was named as the Minister of Justice. It also includes Lahoud's son-in-law, former minister Elias Murr, who retains both posts (Minister of Defense and the deputy PM)

The Ministry of Justice was one of two disputed posts between Lahoud and Siniora. They were arguing about this even during their last meeting before the Cabinet was finally announced.

One thing was strange. In spite of Lahoud continued insistence on including General Aoun's FPM in all previous meetings, he did not insist on including any of Aoun's representatives in the last Cabinet lineup.

Another post which created a lot of controversy was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hezbollah insisted on having one of their members as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Neither the UN nor the US were comfortable in dealing with a Hezbollah member. Even though Fawzi Salloukh, the newly named Minister of Foreign Affairs is a Shiite, he is independent and is neither a member of Hizbullah nor the Amal movement.

The new cabinet faces many challenges. The most pressing challenge is the relations with Syria. Syria has been determined to destroy Lebanon Economically by insisting on increased security checks at the borders resulting in extensive delays for thousands of trucks that transport Lebanese produce to the Arabian Gulf. The Border dispute problems have caused millions of dollar in daily losses to the Lebanese farmers and traders.

The security situation inside Lebanon is another challenge that needs immediate attention. Siniora promised to tackle both issues as soon as his government gets the vote of confidence

Below is the Lineup of the new Lebanese Government

Prime Minister
Fouad Siniora: A Sunni Moslem who served in all the cabinets of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri from 1992 thru 2004.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Elias Murr: A Greek Orthodox Christian, who served as interior Minister from 2000 thru 2004. He served in the same post in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fawzi Salloukh: A Shiite Moslem who began his career as a diplomat. Served as Ambassador to Austria from 1990 thru 1994. In 1998 he switched to the academic field and became General Secretary of the Lebanese Islamic University. He is considered as independent; does not belong to either Hezbollah or the Amal movement.

Minister of Labor
Tarrad Kanj Hamadeh: A Shiite Moslem who earned a PHD from the French Sorbonne University. He served in the same post in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati

Minister of Health
Mohammad Khlifeh: A Shiite Moslem who is the Head of the General Surgery Section of the American University of Beirut Medical Center. He served in the same post in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati.

Minister of Agriculture
Talal Sahili: A Shiite Moslem who serves as a telecommunications professor at the Lebanese University. He is a researcher and inventor.

Minister of Energy & Water
Mohammad Fneish: A Shiite Moslem and a member of Hezbollah. He served as an MP since 1992

Minister of Justice
Charles Rizk: A Marnonite Christian who served in the in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati as the Minister of Information. A close ally of the president and represnts him on the Francophone Permanent Committee.

Minister of Finance
Jihad Azour: A Marnonite Christian who served as a finance advisor to previous Finance Ministers (Corm and Siniora).

Minister of Tourism
Joseph Sarkis: A Marnonite Christian and a member of the Phalangist party from 1993 thru 1998. In 2002 he became the leader of the Lebanese Forces.

Minister of Industry:
Pierre Gemayel: A Marnonite Christian lawyer and the youngest MP. First elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2005.

Minister of Social Affairs
Nayla Mouawad: A Marnonite Christian and the only female in the cabinet. Served as an MP since 1992 and was re-elected in 2005.

Minister of Public Works & Transport
Mohammad Safadi: A Sunni Moslem who was elected in 2005 as a new member of the Parliament.

Minister of Education
Khaled Kabbani: A Sunni Moslem who is a judge. He served in the in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati as the Minister of Justice.

Minister of Interior
Hassan Sabaa: A Sunni Moslem who served in the same post in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati.

Minister of Youth & Sports
Hassan Fatfat: A Sunni Moslem who is a Medical Specialist. He served as an MP since 1996 and re-elected in 2005.

Minister of Communications
Marwan Hamade: A Druze who served as the Minister of Health from 1992 thru 1996, Minister of Displaced from 1996 thru 2000 and Economy and Trade Minister from 2000 thru 2004. He is known as Mr. Clean and left very positive impact on all the ministries he headed.

Minister of Information
Ghazi Aridi: A Druze who served in the same post from 2000 to 2004. In 2004 he served as Minister of education. First elected as MP in 2000 and was re-elected in 2005.

Minister of Economy & Trade
Sami Haddad: A Protestant Christian, who held several management positions with IMF. His most recent position with IMF was manager of North Africa and the Middle East. Prior to that he worked as the Vice Governor for the Lebanese Central Bank.

Minister of the Displaced
Nehmeh Tohmeh: A Greek Catholic Christian, who was first elected as MP in 2000 and was re-elected in 2005. A Civil Engineer, who owns several engineering companies.

Minister of education
Tarek Mitri: A Greek Orthodox Christian who served in the caretaker government of PM Najib Mikati. He has been serving as the coordinator of inter-religious relations and dialogue at World Council of Churches since 1991.

Minister of Environment
Yaacoub Sarraf: A Greek Orthodox Christian who served as Governor of Beirut since 1999 and Mount Lebanon deputy Governor since 2002. A Civil engineer by profession.

Minister of Administrative Development
Jean Hogasapian: An Armenian Christian who served in the presidential Guard from 1990 thru 2000. First elected as an MP in 2000 and re-elected in 2005

Sources: Ya Libnan, Al Nahar