Lebanon power grab

[Don Roley]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_minister_shot

The background for this is as follows.

-Hezbollah has claimed victory for surviving the attacks by Isreal earlier this year. The attacks by Isreal were called off after international outcry over the costs, but Hezbollah has created the impression that they fought off the Isreali war machine.

-This, coupled with a lot of money to rebuild financed by Iran, has led to them being very popular in Lebanon.

-In the past few weeks those that follow events in the region have known that Hezbollah and its Shia party allies have attempted a power grab. They were in negotiations with the ruling party for pretty much the power to veto anything they did not like. Observers were expecting some sort of attempt at bringing down the goverment.

-This attempt seems to have come to pass when the Shia party had all of its ministers bow out of the government. If two more cabinet members quit, the goverment would fall and Hezbollah thought they could sweep into power with their popularity in the polls.

-The guy that was killed was not only a major anti- Hezbollah and Syrian leader, he was one of the two they needed to get rid of to cause the collapse.

-If one more guy decides that being a minister is bad for his health and steps down from the cabinet, we may see Hezbollah come to power and continue their drive against Isreal as the cat's paw of Iran and Syria.

Here is a quote about the political situation.

The shooting follows the resignation of six pro-Syrian ministers from the 24-seat government, plunging the country into deep crisis. They resigned after talks among Lebanon's top leaders reached a deadlock over Hizbullah's demand that it and its allies be given a greater stake in the cabinet. Hizbullah says that unless the government yields, the pro-Syrian opposition will begin pushing for early parliamentary elections.

Under the Lebanese constitution, a government cannot function if one-third of the cabinet resigns or is incapacitated. The resignations of the six ministers last week and Gemayel's murder means that if another minister is removed, the government will fall.

You can find it and more in another article here.

This situation bears close watching.