Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri announced yesterday that his government would resign this month, bringing to a head a political crisis over Syrian domination of the country's domestic affairs. "The government will hold its last Cabinet meeting on the 20th of this month ... and then will come the change," Hariri told journalists after a Cabinet meeting.
His announcement came amid mounting tensions between Lebanon's political masters in Damascus and the United States. Hariri, a business tycoon who has been a mainstay of Lebanese politics for years, declined to say whether he would head the new government, saying only that it was necessary to await the results of discussions. He is the political archrival of pro-Damascus President Emile Lahoud, whose mandate was extended on Friday after the Lebanese Parliament bowed to Syrian pressure to change the constitution to allow the move. |