Lebanon’s recently appointed prime minister Saad Hariri has formed a government in a move that has seen a number of key ministers unchanged.

The move included all factions of Lebanese politics apart from the Christian Phalangist party that rejected Hariri’s government.

The new cabinet, which was announced on 18 December, will keep Gebran Bassil as foreign minister, Ali Khalil as finance minister and Nouhad Machnouk as interior minister.

The cabinet will also include Yacoub al-Sarraf as the new defence minister and Cesar Abou Khalil as the new energy and water minister.

Hariri was endorsed for prime minister by 110 members of the 127-seat parliament on 3 November, with only Hezbollah, the Syrian Social National Party and the Lebanese Baath party – all supporters of Syria’s government – declining to back him as premier. He was appointed shortly after Lebanon’s parliament voted in a Michel Aoun as president on 31 October.