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BEIRUT - Five pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim ministers from Hizbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, resigned from Lebanon's cabinet today after the collapse of all-party talks on giving their camp more say in government.
The resignation of all the Shi'ite ministers from the 24-member Western-backed cabinet came two days before it was scheduled to discuss a draft UN document setting up a tribunal to try the killers of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Many Lebanese blame Syria for Hariri's killing but Damascus denies involvement.
While the resignations will not bring down the government, they pose a major challenge to the majority anti-Syrian coalition in a country where the political system is based on a delicate sectarian balance.
"To pave the way for the majority to practice what it wants freely and so that we don't cover what we are not convinced of ... we announce the resignation of our representatives in the current cabinet," Hizbollah and Amal said in a joint statement.
The two groups allied to Syria said the anti-Syrian majority had rejected their demands for a decisive say in government during week-long talks that collapsed earlier in the day.
The escalating political crisis could provoke confrontation on the streets of Beirut at a time of rising tension between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims.
"Things will get worse. There will be a protest move soon," a senior political source close to Hizbollah said earlier. "The climate at today's meeting was very bad. This stand (by the anti-Syrian) majority will not pass without reaction."
Lebanon received from the United Nations on Friday a draft document outlining the structure and legal framework of the Hariri tribunal. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora had called a cabinet meeting for Monday to discuss the draft.
Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud opposed the cabinet meeting, saying he needed more time to study the draft.
Participants said the talks had failed, but anti-Syrian politicians tried to ease fears that the crisis would spill onto the streets, dashing hopes of a recovery from last summer's war with Israel.
"I don't know who is spreading a climate of fear and tension as if something is about to happen. Nothing will happen," said Samir Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces, a Christian party in the anti-Syrian camp.
Shi'ite Hizbollah, which claimed victory in its war with Israel in July and August, has led calls for a change in the government dominated by anti-Syrians from the Sunni-led majority bloc in parliament.
The pro-Syrian party has threatened mass demonstrations demanding new parliamentary elections unless more of its allies are admitted to the cabinet by mid-November.
Hizbollah accuses Siniora of failing to back it during the war and of supporting US and Israeli demands for the disarmament of its guerrillas.
The majority coalition is willing to bring in Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a Hizbollah ally, but not to surrender a third of seats to the opposition. A third of ministers plus one can block motions in cabinet and automatically bring down the government by resigning.
The United States and its allies in Lebanon are not keen to see Hizbollah, which Washington regards as a terrorist organisation, exert more influence over the government.
The 2005 killing of Hariri led to mass protests against Syria. Under international pressure, Syria ended a 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April last year and anti-Syrian politicians swept to victory in ensuing elections.
A UN commission investigating the murder has implicated senior Lebanese and Syrian security officials.
- REUTERS
