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Wed, Jan 12, 2011 | CNN | AP | JPost

President Obama meets with Saad Hariri in the White House (Photo: AP).

Hizbullah Resignation Only Demonstrate Their Fear

Members of the powerful Hezbollah movement and its allies brought down Lebanon’s unity government Wednesday after resigning from Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Cabinet. Minister of State Adnan Sayyed Hussein turned in his resignation along with 10 members of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, meaning that the threshold needed — 11 resignations from the 30-member Cabinet — to collapse the government had been reached. [CNN, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

Lebanon’s year-old unity government collapsed after Hizbullah ministers and their allies resigned over tensions stemming from a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. [Jpost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

Hizbullah members are expected to be indicted by the Hariri tribunal, which will hand over its findings within “hours or days,” according to a Wednesday report in Lebanese newspaper An Nahar. Hizbullah has denounced the tribunal as an “Israeli project” and urged Hariri to reject any findings by the court, which has not yet announced any indictments. But the prime minister has refused to break cooperation with the tribunal. [JPost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

Sa’ad Hariri was meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House as the political crisis erupted in Lebanon.

US President Barack Obama and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence even as Hizbullah ministers forced Hariri’s year-old unity government to collapse. The Lebanese leader made no public comment after the Oval Office visit and immediately left for France to consult with French President Nicolas Sarkozy before returning to Beirut, according to a Lebanese official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic moves. [JPost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

A White House statement issued afterward said Obama had commended Hariri for his “steadfast leadership and efforts to reach peace, stability and consensus in Lebanon under difficult circumstances.”

“The efforts by the Hezbollah-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to block the government’s ability to conduct its business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people,” the statement said.

During Obama’s meeting with Hariri, the White House said, the president also stressed the importance of the tribunal’s work as a “means to help end the era of political assassinations with impunity in Lebanon.” He and Hariri discussed efforts with France, Saudi Arabia and other international and regional partners to maintain calm and ensure that the tribunal’s work continues without third-party interference. [JPost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

Hariri’s assassination in a suicide bombing that killed 22 other people both stunned and polarized Lebanese. He was a Sunni who was a hero to his own community and backed by many Christians who sympathized with his efforts in the last few months of his life to reduce Syrian influence in the country. A string of assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and public figures followed, which UN investigators have said may have been connected to the Hariri killing. [JPost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has denounced the tribunal, which is widely expected to name members of Hezbollah in coming indictments. Many fear that implicating Hezbollah could set off sectarian tensions that have plagued the tiny Middle Eastern country for decades. [JPost, Wed, Jan 12, 2011]