Lebanon's Prime Minister Omar Karami has resigned follwing a wave of angry protests in Beirut. "I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honour to head. May God preserve Lebanon," Karami said. Lahoud was a close ally of Syria, and often at odds with martyred former prime minister Rafik Hariri. President Emile Lahoud must now appoint a new prime minister, but his days may be numbered as well; "Lahoud, your turn is coming!" is a popular protest chant. France and the US alike are calling for the removal of Syria's 15,000 troops from Lebanon. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the troops will not be withdrawn until peace guarantees with Israel are established. And prospects for that certainly don't look very good (see WW4 REPORT #94 [2]) (CTV [3], Feb. 28)
A leader of the anti-Syria opposition is Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who had become close the Hariri after he called for Syria's withdrawal. Jumblatt says he is also marked for death, telling AP that Hariri told him two weeks before his death, "I have a feeling one of us is going to be killed, either you or me." (Al-Bawaba [4], Jordan, Feb. 28)
How long before the conspiranoiacs start squaking about how Mossad or the CIA is behind all of this? And to what extent are they likely to be right? (See our last blog post [5] on the Lebanon crisis.)
