Hizbullah Causes Crisis In Lebanon By Withdrawing From Government

When the terror group Hizbullah doesn't get what it wants, it agitates in all manner of action to get what it wants. It started a devastating war with Israel that caused tremendous damage in Southern Lebanon because it thought it could do serious damage to Israel. It forced its way into the Lebanese government and now it is causing a crisis by withdrawing from the government so that the Prime Minister must take steps to form a new government.

Ten ministers from Lebanon's Hezbollah movement and its political allies announced their resignation on Wednesday and called on President Michel Suleiman to form a new government.

Eleven ministerial resignations would be enough to bring down the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. There was no immediate news on whether another minister, Adnan Sayyed Hussein, who Hezbollah supporters also expect to resign, was stepping down.

Lebanon would be better off if they fulfilled the requirements under UN SCR 1701, which required the Lebanese and UNIFIL to disarm all militias operating in Lebanon, including Hizbullah, but they have repeatedly failed to do so because Hizbullah is well entrenched and heavily armed - moreso than either Lebanon or UNIFIL would care to admit.

Southern Lebanon is essentially Hizbullahland and this may be a step in furtherance of resuming attacks against Israel and/or destabilizing the government of Prime Minister Hariri so that they can increase their reach further.

This is yet another sad day for the Lebanese who are trying to rebuild after decades of sectarian violence, the Israeli invasion to stop the PLO, and Hizbullah's disastrous war.

UPDATE:
Hizbullah must really be worried that the investigation into Rafiq Hariri's assassination will turn up major links to the terror group and its backers in Syria and Iran. PM Hariri is Rafik's son. Hizbullah blames Israel for the assassination without a shred of evidence, even as all fingers point back at Hizbullah and their terror masters in Syria and Iran.

The announcement took place as Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was in the United States where he has been meeting with various US and United Nations officials.

US President Barack Obama was set to meet Wednesday with the Lebanese prime minister to discuss political tensions in his country stemming from the Hariri investigation, the White House said Tuesday.

The Hizbullah ministers had said they were planning to resign in the afternoon unless Western-backed Hariri — the son of the slain leader — agreed to their demand to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting over the tribunal crisis, Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalifeh said on Hizbullah 's Al-Manar TV.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Hariri said that he would "seek all means to reach solutions that can guarantee stability, calm and maintain national unity," Lebanon's Daily Star reported.

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.