Lebanon Facing Political Crisis with Government Collapse

Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri was meeting with President Obama at the White House when the resignations came in. (White House photo by Pete Souza.)

Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman announced Thursday he will launch formal talks next week to create a new government, after the resignation of Hezbollah and its allies toppled the 14-month-old coalition cabinet Wednesday.

Hezbollah quit the government over a U.N. tribunal investigating the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

President Suleiman has asked Prime Minister Saad Hariri to continue in his role as a “caretaker” prime minister for now, but GlobalPost’s Heather Murdock reported he may not be leading the government for long:

Analysts said the [Hezbollah] resignations would likely force Hariri’s resignation and could end Lebanese involvement in the U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, Saad’s father.

Judith Palmer Harik, a political analyst in Lebanon, said Hezbollah and its allies — 11 ministers in all — resigned in order to force the formation of a government that would meet its demand to end Lebanese support for the U.N. tribunal.

“The only sensible thing to do was to bring the government down by leaving,” she said.

In the past few months, tensions have simmered here as Lebanon awaited the results of the tribunal’s investigation, which most expected would indict members of Hezbollah in connection with the Hariri assassination.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah regularly blasts the court, calling it a political tool to discredit Hezbollah, and vowing to “cut the hand” of anyone who attempts to arrest its members.

Lebanon will have to now scramble to form a new government in the aftermath of the resignations. Harik said any new government will have to be amenable to Hezbollah’s demands, or it will remain unformed.

Read Murdock’s full report at GlobalPost.