After Lebanon's president appointed a Hezbollah-backed candidate, Najib Mikati, as prime minister, protests by angry Sunnis erupted throughout the country. Mikati, a billionaire businessman, won a majority of Parliament votes and defeated the popular Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Hariri and Mikati have both urged their supporters to resist conflict and remain calm.
Two weeks ago Hariri's government toppled after Hezbollah pulled out. Conflict arose after Hariri refused the group's demand to stop cooperating with a United Nations supported tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. While Hezbollah has denied any involvement in the assassination, sealed draft indictments released last week reportedly name some Hezbollah members.
Hezbollah is a Shiite-dominated grouped supported by Iran and Syria and considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. The group began as a resistance group fighting Israeli occupation in Southern Lebanon in the '80s and was blamed for the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. In 2006, Hezbollah and Israel were engulfed in a five-week conflict. The United States has given $1.2 billion in economic and military aid to Lebanon in the last five years. And the Obama administration had requested $246 million more this year.
Quotes
"I would like to announce my total rejection of all the riots that accompanied the protests and distorted the national and noble aims for these movements." Saad Hariri, acting Lebanese prime minister (through translator)
"A Hezbollah-controlled government would clearly have an impact on our bilateral relationship with Lebanon." U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton
Warm Up Questions
1.Where is Lebanon?
2.What is Hezbollah?
3.What is the role of a Prime Minister?
Discussion Questions
1.Why do you think people in Lebanon are protesting the appointment of a Hezbollah supported Prime Minister?
2.Discuss the difference between a Parliamentary and Presidential government.
3.Discuss the difference between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Additional Resources
