Politicians following recent developments have told Al-Monitor that the real, substantive cause that drove Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign was his government's inability to hold parliamentary elections on schedule.

Since Thursday evening, the now-resigned Prime Minister Mikati had been dropping repeated hints that he planned to take a “major step.” But few believed that he would actually resign. Skeptics and acquaintances pointed to prior episodes that had demonstrated the prime minister was a first-class maneuverer, possessing an extraordinary ability to absorb political shocks and convulsions while still retaining remarkably calm nerves. So much so that MP Farid Makari, vice-president of the Lebanese Parliament and former friend of Mikati’s, once dubbed him “a hypnotist.”

Despite all that, Mikati went on to surprise everyone and actually resigned. A number of those whom he contacted translated his explanation by saying, in essence, that he can’t take it anymore. In particular, he described the position of Hezbollah — the main backer of his government and a staunch ally of the Christian party of Gen. Michel Aoun, whose bloc holds 10 seats in the tripartite government — as the proximate cause of his resignation. Specifically, the party’s refusal to extend the term of the Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi as head of Lebanese internal security forces. Rifi was considered to be affiliated with the opposition to the government and specifically with the Future Movement, a Sunni party based in Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city and Mikati’s hometown.

A prominent political figure who spoke to Mikati a few hours before the last meeting of his Cabinet told Al-Monitor that Hezbollah had been informed of Mikati’s desire to resign in the event Rifi’s term was not extended. According to her, the Hezbollah leadership’s response was, in essence: “If he wants to resign, then let him. He’s free to do whatever he likes.”