Lebanon government collapses

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s
fragile government collapsed Wednesday over an investigation into the
assassination of a former prime minister, just as its current leader
met with President Obama in Washington.

Eleven ministers close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah-led opposition withdrew from the Cabinet, dissolving a political status quo that has prevailed since a May 2008 agreement ended fighting between the country’s pro-Western political alliance and a camp backed by Syria and Iran.

Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political
organization and militia, and its Shiite and Christian allies pulled
out of the government after months of negotiations brokered by Saudi Arabia and Syria failed to produce a compromise over the tribunal examining the 2005 assassination of Rafik Hariri.

The former prime minister was leader of the country’s Sunni community and father of the country’s current premier, Saad Hariri.
The tribunal is expected to accuse members of Hezbollah of complicity
in the killing, prompting the group to warn that it would refuse to
hand over any suspects or allow its name to be tarnished. Hezbollah has
also demanded that Hariri disavow the tribunal, a step the prime
minister was apparently unwilling to take.

Both sides said they were open to further dialogue and compromise.

“We are in a new political and ministerial crisis,” said Boutros Harb,
a lawmaker allied with Hariri, said at a news conference. “There is no
room for bargaining over the tribunal and justice. We remain open to
dialogue without compromising (our) general principles.”

The political crisis darkened the mood in this
country of 4 million people, which has been enjoying a stretch of
relative peace and economic prosperity. The Lebanese army deployed
extra troops throughout Beirut
in case of possible skirmishes between young Sunni and Shiite men. The
stock market slipped precipitously, with one cornerstone real estate
conglomerate down 8 percent.

But a senior U.S. official, traveling in Qatar with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
also noted that Hezbollah and its allies so far have been using only
legal means to try to bring down the government and there have been no
signs that they are trying to mobilize supporters in the streets.

Lebanon’s political system is divided roughly into a pro-Western coalition called March 14 and an Iranian and Syrian-backed camp called March 8. They have been at odds since the 2005 assassination.

Under the 2008 peace agreement brokered in Qatar
that ended an outbreak of fighting between the two camps, Hezbollah
joined with its rivals to form two consecutive governments. In the
latest dispute, Hezbollah officials and their allies said they were
angered by Hariri’s refusal to convene an immediate Cabinet meeting to
discuss the tribunal and other matters of state.

“Considering the results of the attempts to resolve
the crisis and the U.S. pressures, and despite the responsiveness of
the opposition that was blocked by the (government) … we decided to
make way for others to create a government that can fulfill its
duties,” said Minister of Electricity Gebran Bassil, reading from a prepared statement in a televised news conference.

They demanded that Hariri try to form a new
government, a process that will take time and likely worsen the
security situation. In case of a prolonged political vacuum, a
caretaker government with limited powers would manage day-to-day
affairs.

The opposition camp quickly demanded that Hariri try
to form a new government. The senior Obama administration official said
Hezbollah may be disappointed with the outcome of pulling out of the
government. “It’s not clear Hezbollah is going to be able to re-create
the government in a form Hezbollah would like to see,” the official
said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.

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