¤Battle over BdL vice-governors: Washington backs keeping Baasiri

As the terms of the four vice-governors ended on 31 March 2019, the US assistant treasury secretary Marshall Billingslea lobbied Aoun and Hariri for the renewal of the third vice-governor Mohammad Baasiri, "the American deposit" on the Central Council after more than twenty years at the bank and the Banking Control Commission; Salameh used the American support to ask for the renewal of all four of his deputies, while President Aoun and Hezbollah pushed for a complete change after Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech on the "financial war", and Berri refused any partial renewal. The deputies stayed in their posts in an acting capacity until their replacements were appointed in June 2020.

Note: Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) obliges diplomats to respect the laws of the host state and not to interfere in its internal affairs, and the customary principle of non-intervention prohibits coercion in matters within domestic jurisdiction, such as the choice of rulers and the political system (International Court of Justice, Nicaragua 1986). Moving the centre of decision from the constitutional institutions to the embassies weakens the state's standing and encourages the Lebanese parties to appeal to outside patrons.