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Lebanon's Government Collapses With Cabinet Resignations

   VOA News 12 January 2011
   Lebanese  Energy  Minister  Jibran Bassil announces the resignation of
   Hezbollah  ministers and their allies during a press conference in the
   northern Beirut suburb of Rabieh, 12 Jan 2011

Photo: AP

   Lebanese  Energy  Minister  Jibran Bassil announces the resignation of
   Hezbollah  ministers and their allies during a press conference in the
   northern Beirut suburb of Rabieh, 12 Jan 2011

   Lebanon's   government  collapsed  on  Wednesday  as  members  of  the
   opposition   Hezbollah  party  and  its  allies  announced  they  were
   resigning from the Cabinet.
   Eleven  members  of  the  30-member  Cabinet  quit in protest over the
   U.N.-backed  tribunal investigation into the 2005 assassination of the
   country's former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. Â
   The  resignations  took place as Hariri's son, Lebanese Prime Minister
   Saad  Hariri, discussed the crisis with U.S. President Barack Obama in
   Washington.
   Media  have  reported  that  the  U.N.  indictments will likely target
   Hezbollah members.
   Hezbollah  denies  involvement  in the killing of Rafiq Hariri and has
   been  pushing the government to renounce the probe. Hezbollah holds 10
   of the cabinet's 30 posts.
   In  a  Wednesday  news  conference,  opposition lawmaker Gebran Bassil
   denounced the the U.N. investigation as an "Israeli project."
   Earlier,  Hezbollah  and  its  allies called for Saad Hariri to hold a
   Cabinet meeting to discuss the U.N. tribunal.
   The  Associated  Press   quoted  an  aide to Mr. Hariri as saying the
   prime  minister  was  not  opposed  to  a  meeting but had commitments
   outside  of  Lebanon.  Mr.  Hariri has been in the United States since
   Friday,   discussing  the  stalemate  with  global  leaders  and  U.N.
   officials.
   A  senior  U.S.  government  official  says Secretary of State Hillary
   Clinton  has  spoken  to  officials  in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and France
   about the formation of a global consensus backing Lebanon and the U.N.
   tribunal.   The official said Clinton also planned to raise the issue
   Wednesday during talks with Gulf Arab leaders in Qatar.
   On Tuesday, Syria and Saudi Arabia failed to broker an agreement among
   Beirut's  rival political factions.  The negotiations had been touted
   by  Lebanese  and  Arab leaders as one of the best hopes to defuse the
   crisis.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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