Najib Azmi Mikati (Arabic: نجيب عزمي ميقاتي; born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025.

[4] In 2019, state prosecutor Ghada Aoun accused Mikati of corruption and pressed charges of illegitimate enrichment via subsidised housing loans against him.

[10] Mikati has been linked to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, as he made his fortune by operating several telecom projects in Syria and Lebanon in the early 2000s.

[18] He is a major shareholder in the South African telecommunications operator MTN, owner of the high-end fashion brand Façonnable, and an investor in transport, gas, and oil businesses.

As a parliamentarian, Mikati retained his cabinet position and developed a reputation as a moderately pro-Syrian politician with a normal relationship with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

[28] Mikati succeeded Saad Hariri, whose government was brought down by the resignation of ten of the alliance's ministers and one presidential appointee on 12 January 2011, resulting from the collapse of the Saudi-Syrian initiative to reach a compromise on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

[citation needed] On 13 June, Mikati announced the formation of the government and stated that it would begin by "liberating land that remains under the occupation of the Israeli enemy".

[34] Following the resignation of Prime Minister Hassan Diab in August 2020, both Mustafa Adib and Saad Hariri failed to form a government.

[35] Mikati declared that he wanted a purely technocratic government, without representatives of political parties, in order to carry out the economic reforms expected by Lebanon's donors.

[38] When he took office, Lebanon was in the grip of a very serious economic crisis: collapse of the national currency, galloping inflation (the cost of food had jumped by 700% in the previous two years), massive layoffs, a poverty rate of 78% according to the UN, frequent power cuts, fuel shortages, etc.

[39] In February 2022, Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rai, Lebanese senior Christian cleric and head of the Maronite Church, called on the Mikati government to "agree with the IMF on a plan that saves Lebanon from collapse".

[40] He was again named prime minister designate on 23 June 2022 with 54 votes against Nawaf Salam's 28 to form a new cabinet until the remainder of President Michel Aoun's term.

[47] Following a series of Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on 23 September 2024 which killed 492 and injured 1,645, Mikati called the airstrikes a "war of extermination" and accused Israel of "a destructive plan" that aims to destroy Lebanese villages and towns.

The discussions touched upon Qatar's potential involvement in Lebanon's reconstruction efforts, particularly in the southern region affected by the recent conflict with Israel.

[56] Sison ended that cable by a comment acknowledging that Mikati was "presenting himself for our benefit as a foe of Hizballah, as he is looking forward to potential opportunities to return to the Prime Ministry.