The Syrian government’s hold on Lebanon was shaken on Monday night when its placeman, the Prime Minister Omar Karami, was forced to resign after a wave of street protests.
Both the Syrian regime and its puppet government in Beirut have been under pressure since the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri a fortnight ago.
With Beirut halted by a general strike and tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets, Karami announced the dissolution of his government, saying: ”I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country.”
He will head a caretaker government until a new one is formed.
The Syrian government, which has had troops and an extensive network of intelligence agents in Lebanon since 1976, has been under enormous pressure in recent weeks, not only from Lebanon but also from the United States, Israel, France and now Britain.
The US has demanded that Syria withdraw its 15 000 soldiers, stop hosting anti-Israeli groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and cut its ties with the Lebanese Shia group Hizbullah.
On Monday night the White House said the government’s resignation was ”an opportunity for the Lebanese people to have a new government that is truly representative of their … diversity”.
Israel presented the Jerusalem diplomatic corps with what it said was evidence of telephone conversations linking Islamic Jihad leaders in Syria with those responsible for the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on Friday.
The Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, voiced concern on Monday that the US was preparing to attack his country.
In an interview published in the Italian paper La Repubblica he said he did not believe an attack was imminent, but added: ”If, however, you ask me if I’m expecting an armed attack, well I’ve seen it coming since the end of the war in Iraq. It’s from then that tensions have been rising.
”For now it’s just skirmishing. True, the White House language, if looked at in detail, leads one to expect a campaign similar to the one that led up to the attack on Iraq.”
On Sunday, trying to placate the US, Assad handed over to the interim Iraqi government a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan al-Tikriti, after months of denying that he was in the country. He has also promised to pull troops from Lebanon, but has given no timetable.
After Hariri’s murder the normally fractious Lebanese Christians, Muslims and Druze united in calling for Syria’s departure.
The announcement of Karami’s resignation was celebrated wildly by the estimated 25 000 protesters on Beirut’s streets on Monday night, despite the presence of soldiers and armed checkpoints.
They had gathered to listen on their radios to hours of debate on an opposition motion of no confidence. Many waved flags and chanted ”Syria out”.
The main opposition leader, Walid Jumblatt, told CNN: ”Today we are at a crossroads in the history of the country … we have entered a stage where there must be calm.”
The pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, may have difficulty putting in place another pro-Syrian government. He has lost support in the 128-member parliament, a Lebanese political analyst, Farid Chedid said, and might find his earlier comfortable majority eroded by public opinion.
The government had banned demonstrations and used troops to clear out central Beirut at the weekend, but protesters showed up in force, climbing through fences and over concrete barricades, with many spending the night in Martyrs’ Square, where Hariri is buried.
On Monday night a 22-year-old Karami supporter was shot dead as supporters of the prime minister rioted in his home town of Tripoli. – Guardian Unlimited Â