|
Lebanon set to cancel anti-Hezbollah measures
Lebanon's cabinet is likely to cancel measures on Wednesday that angered the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement and triggered the worst internal conflict since the country's civil war, political sources said. "You can say it's a done deal, but we're waiting for the cabinet meeting," one political source said shortly before Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who is supported by the United States, convened his ministers for talks at 4:30 p.m. British time.Other political sources said later the cabinet was also debating the timing of any announcement of the cancellations. Rescinding a ban on Hezbollah's communications network and the sacking of Beirut airport's security chief, who is close to the group, is one of Hezbollah's demands to lift its blockade of the airport and its campaign of civil disobedience. It would also be a first step towards easing a broader 18-month-long standoff between Siniora's government and opposition forces that has left Lebanon without a president since November. At least 81 people have been killed since violence broke out on May 7 following the cabinet decisions against Hezbollah, which routed its rivals in six days of fighting and briefly seized control of parts of Beirut. U.S. President George W. Bush, in Jerusalem to celebrate the anniversary of Israel's founding in 1948, accused Iran on Wednesday of using the Islamist Shi'ite Hezbollah to destabilise Lebanon. He said: "This is an Iranian effort to destabilise their young democracy." He said the United States stood by Lebanon, a parliamentary democracy since independence from France in 1943. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=239071 |