The Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its allies plan to resign from the Lebanese Cabinet and topple the government on Wednesday over tensions stemming from the international investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, officials said.The ministers were planning to resign in the afternoon unless Western-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri -- the son of the slain leader -- agrees to their demand to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting over the tribunal crisis, Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh said on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
A senior official in Hariri's Future Movement, Mustafa Alloush, said Hariri would not succumb to "pressure and ultimatums."
| Careful Saad, and you might want to check the road for recently-repaired potholes... |
Fox News reports they've gone ahead and done it.
An-Nahar scroll:
5:32pm Minister of State Adnan Sayyed Hussein announced in a statement his resignation from Cabinet.
5:17pm Agence France Presse: Prime Minister Saad Hariri went into talks with U.S. President Barack Obama at the moment that Opposition ministers resigned from the Lebanese government.
5:14pm Bassil: Our decision is constitutional and legal. We are making room for a new government in order for it to perform its duties.
5:12pm Bassil: The prime minister is faced with choosing either Beirut and Washington or Beirut and any other capital. We have taken our choice through adhering to the institutions.
5:10pm Bassil: We announce our resignation from government and we turn to the prime minister to speed up the formation of a new Cabinet.
5:08pm Energy Minister Jebran Bassil: We thank Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for their efforts to reach a settlement and we are sorry that the efforts have been missed.
5:07pm Minister Abdullah arrived at Rabieh and the opposition ministers took their places to start the press conference.
5:00pm OTV: The opposition will announce its statement within minutes. The delay was caused by Minister Ali Abdullah's late arrival to Rabieh from the airport.
Just a few thoughts:
- Thus passeth another Government of National Unity™, with the majority held hostage to the minority.
- This being Leb, there will probably be another Government of National Unity™ down the road, featuring the same old hacks doing the same old thing.
- This is a desperation move on the part of Hezbollah. They expect the Special Tribunal report to name names, dates, times, and maybe even where the money comes from. "The Resistance" gets painted a the assassins they are but that they've been pretending not to be.
- If this doesn't kill the Special Tribunal they're going to have to try and take over the government themselves. Failing that, Syria will be invited in to "restore order."
- Hezbollah's owners in Teheran can't be happy with this. They've been tromping inexorably toward total control of the Leb satrapy and now this threatens the ultimate end. It's not all that much a threat, but it's there.
- The UN commission's been scared to release the indictments and the government's been scared to receive them, which has had the net effect of exacerbating the tension.
- Aoun has been shown to be a puppet.
- Jumblatt, whose reputation was actually gleaming prior to this, has shown himself to be a poltroon.
- Amal has reminded people that it's nothing but an arm of Hezbollah.
- Samir Geagea is a really gutsy guy and Hezbollah will probably assassinate him next.
- The Lebs have been reminded that the Shiite 34 percent of the population is in effective control.
- There's barely anything about this on the teevee. The shooting in Arizona and the left-right political pie fight is considered ever so much more important than this.