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Hezbollah And Its Allies Intensify Attacks On Seniora Government
 The Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement and its Christian ally, Michel Aoun, said Thursday they no longer accepted the authority of the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Seniora. "This government has lost legitimacy and we won't obey its orders after today," the hardline Aoun told his followers at a rally. Hezbollah politburo member Ghaleb Abu-Zeinab also said "civil disobedience is a legitimate choice" if the government continued to reject Hezbollah's demands for a national unity government. Abu-Zeinab stressed that even if Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat refused to license protests, "they will not stop us from exercising our democratic legitimate rights," but did not specify any course of action. The political crisis in the country intensified after the failure on Saturday of national roundtable talks which focused on forming a unity government as called for by pro-Syrian Lebanese factions, especially Hezbollah and Aoun. The ruling anti-Syrian majority has rejected the demands for a new government before securing a pledge for the ouster of President Emile Lahoud, whose term was extended in 2004 for three years under a Syrian-sponsored constitutional amendment. Posted by: Fred 2006-11-17 |
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