Former MP Samer Saade blasted Information Minister’s move to replace the state-run National News Agency Director Laure Sleiman with Ziad Harfoush, deeming it as an act of cronyism.

“The people are protesting, the people are uprising, they are on the streets and squares, while the Information Minister Jamal Jarrah’s sole concern is how to punish his opponents and allot state associates instead,” Saade wrote on Twitter.

“We stand in solidarity with Sleiman; her only fault is her political orientation,” he added.

Jarrah's move, effective immediately, comes just days after the Lebanese Forces’ four ministers submitted their resignations from the Cabinet amid mass protests across Lebanon.

Sleiman, who had been the NNAs director for 11 years, is close to the LF.