[Al Jazeera] Michel Suleiman, Leb's president, has asked Saad al-Hariri to remain as a caretaker prime minister until the country's political crisis is resolved, according to Leb's national news agency.This is just as a caretaker. Hezbollah is working frantically to replace him with someone, anyone, who can then be bullied into shutting down the STL.
Sleiman's announcement on Thursday comes as Hariri prepares to return to Leb to confront a government that has effectively collapsed following the withdrawal of the Hezbullies-led opposition bloc from his cabinet.
In response to the crisis, Hariri cut short a visit to Washington DC, during which he met with US president Barack
B.O.Obama. He was set to meet with Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president, on Thursday night before returning to Leb on Friday.
Nabih
KnobbyBerri,
... the Hizbullah sock puppet ...
the Lebanese parliament speaker, said on Thursday that Sleiman will launch formal talks on Monday to create a new government.
Officials have declined to say whether Hariri, whose coalition won a 2009 parliamentary election, will be asked to form a new government, or if someone else would be nominated.
Leb's opposition, the so-called March 8 coalition between Hezbullies and other parties, including the predominantly Christian Free Patriotic Movement,
Despite its name a Christian party allied with Hizbullah, neither free nor particularly patriotic...
resigned from the cabinet over disagreements stemming from a UN investigation into the 2005 liquidation of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister and Saad al-Hariri's father.
There has been growing political tension in Leb amid signs that Hezbullies members could be indicted by the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Leb (STL).
Ten ministers tendered their resignations on Wednesday after reports that Hariri had refused their call to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss controversial issues including the investigation.
An eleventh member, Adnan Sayyed Hussein, later stood down from the 30-member cabinet, automatically bringing down Hariri's government.
The request to convene a cabinet meeting came on Tuesday after Syria and Soddy Arabia, who have for months been attempting to act as mediators in Leb's political crisis, announced their efforts had failed.
The standoff between Hariri's camp and Hezbullies over the UN tribunal has paralysed the government for months and sparked concerns of sectarian violence similar to the one that brought the country close to civil war in May 2008.