Spirit Of Truth
Deceased
My apocalyptic vision that began with seeing a special report of a chemical SCUD missile attack on Israel may be about to play out.
God have mercy on us all.
Backgrounder video - CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?
Hezbollah, allies to topple Lebanon government: sources
By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT | Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:34am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B26A20110112?pageNumber=2
(Reuters) - Ministers from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and its political allies will resign on Wednesday, forcing the collapse of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's government, political sources said.
"The resignation statement has been written and will be announced at 4.30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST)," said a senior political source, who asked not to be named. Eleven ministers would quit, enough to automatically bring down the government, he said.
The move comes a day after Lebanese politicians said Saudi Arabia and Syria had failed to forge a deal to contain tensions over a U.N.-backed tribunal which is expected to indict Hezbollah members over the killing of Hariri's father Rafik.
The militant Shi'ite group has denied any role in the 2005 assassination. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has attacked the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged Hariri to renounce it, a demand the Sunni Muslim premier has resisted.
The stalemate has crippled Hariri's 14-month-old "unity" government. The cabinet has met, briefly, just once in the last two months and the government failed to get parliamentary approval for the 2010 budget.
Tensions over the tribunal, which is expected to issue draft indictments this month, have exacerbated existing rifts between Hariri, who is supported by Western powers and Saudi Arabia, and Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria.
Analysts said the resignations could set the stage for protracted political turmoil in Lebanon, which has endured a series of crises since Rafik al-Hariri's killing, including car bombings and sectarian street fighting in Beirut in 2008.
"You definitely have increased rhetoric, but whether that is matched by a slip toward a bad security situation is not pre-determined," said Karim Makdisi, a teacher of international relations at the American University of Beirut.
Hariri was due to meet President Barack Obama in Washington around the time of the planned resignation announcement.
Gebran Bassil, a Christian government minister allied to Hezbollah, said Hariri had rejected demands for an urgent session of cabinet to discuss Hezbollah's insistence that Lebanon withdraw all cooperation with the special tribunal.
"The grace period has ended, and the waiting stage that we lived through without any result has ended," he told Reuters.
Hezbollah minister Mohammad Fneish on Tuesday blamed the United States for obstructing attempts by Riyadh and Damascus to find a solution. "There were Arab efforts that gave us the chance to work positively... These efforts have not worked because of American intervention," he said.
Political scientist Hilal Khashan said Washington had "vetoed" the Saudi-Syrian initiative and there was little prospect of a new government being formed quickly.
He said Hezbollah was unlikely to repeat the events of May 2008, when gunmen took over Beirut in protest over government steps against the Shi'ite militant movement, but he did not rule out demonstrations.
"The phenomenon of food riots is spreading in the Arab world, so the opposition may shield itself behind popular demands for combating inflation," he said.
Beirut's bourse fell 3.22 percent in response to the political turmoil, with shares in market heavyweight Solidere, which has led the reconstruction of Beirut since the 1975-1990 civil war, dropping as much as 8.0 percent.
"(Because) the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Syria was blocked, we have seen a sell-off," said Louis Karam, senior investment adviser at Arab Finance Corporation.
God have mercy on us all.
Backgrounder video - CBC Investigation: Who killed Lebanon's Rafik Hariri?
Hezbollah, allies to topple Lebanon government: sources
By Laila Bassam
BEIRUT | Wed Jan 12, 2011 7:34am EST
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70B26A20110112?pageNumber=2
(Reuters) - Ministers from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and its political allies will resign on Wednesday, forcing the collapse of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's government, political sources said.
"The resignation statement has been written and will be announced at 4.30 p.m. (7:30 a.m. EST)," said a senior political source, who asked not to be named. Eleven ministers would quit, enough to automatically bring down the government, he said.
The move comes a day after Lebanese politicians said Saudi Arabia and Syria had failed to forge a deal to contain tensions over a U.N.-backed tribunal which is expected to indict Hezbollah members over the killing of Hariri's father Rafik.
The militant Shi'ite group has denied any role in the 2005 assassination. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has attacked the tribunal as an "Israeli project" and urged Hariri to renounce it, a demand the Sunni Muslim premier has resisted.
The stalemate has crippled Hariri's 14-month-old "unity" government. The cabinet has met, briefly, just once in the last two months and the government failed to get parliamentary approval for the 2010 budget.
Tensions over the tribunal, which is expected to issue draft indictments this month, have exacerbated existing rifts between Hariri, who is supported by Western powers and Saudi Arabia, and Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria.
Analysts said the resignations could set the stage for protracted political turmoil in Lebanon, which has endured a series of crises since Rafik al-Hariri's killing, including car bombings and sectarian street fighting in Beirut in 2008.
"You definitely have increased rhetoric, but whether that is matched by a slip toward a bad security situation is not pre-determined," said Karim Makdisi, a teacher of international relations at the American University of Beirut.
Hariri was due to meet President Barack Obama in Washington around the time of the planned resignation announcement.
Gebran Bassil, a Christian government minister allied to Hezbollah, said Hariri had rejected demands for an urgent session of cabinet to discuss Hezbollah's insistence that Lebanon withdraw all cooperation with the special tribunal.
"The grace period has ended, and the waiting stage that we lived through without any result has ended," he told Reuters.
Hezbollah minister Mohammad Fneish on Tuesday blamed the United States for obstructing attempts by Riyadh and Damascus to find a solution. "There were Arab efforts that gave us the chance to work positively... These efforts have not worked because of American intervention," he said.
Political scientist Hilal Khashan said Washington had "vetoed" the Saudi-Syrian initiative and there was little prospect of a new government being formed quickly.
He said Hezbollah was unlikely to repeat the events of May 2008, when gunmen took over Beirut in protest over government steps against the Shi'ite militant movement, but he did not rule out demonstrations.
"The phenomenon of food riots is spreading in the Arab world, so the opposition may shield itself behind popular demands for combating inflation," he said.
Beirut's bourse fell 3.22 percent in response to the political turmoil, with shares in market heavyweight Solidere, which has led the reconstruction of Beirut since the 1975-1990 civil war, dropping as much as 8.0 percent.
"(Because) the agreement between Saudi Arabia and Syria was blocked, we have seen a sell-off," said Louis Karam, senior investment adviser at Arab Finance Corporation.
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