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Lebanese Government Collapse Feared

Saturday brought with it shock to the Lebanese government and public as negotiation between Shia Muslim Hezbollah and Amal parties and the rest of the cabinet ministers failed to agree on the reshuffling of the cabinet and decided to resign. To this day 6 cabinet members have resigned from office. The negotiations were centered on the Hezbollah`s demands to increase the representation of Hezbollah and its allies Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement. Hezbollah`s demands for a larger representation are not completely unreasonable as more then half of the population in Lebanon is Shia Muslim this ethnicity holds less then half of the seats in parliament due to the cease-fire agreement in the end of Lebanon`s bloody civil-war.

The Lebanese public is worried that Hezbollah will give up on the fragile Lebanese democracy and take to the streets once again starting ethnic violence in the country. Lebanon has recently recovered from its war with Israel, a war initiated by the Hezbollah, and is making steps to rebuild itself. The Hezbollah`s attempt to take control of the Lebanese government is speculated to be due to Syrian tampering in Lebanese politics.

Anti-Syrian sentiments are quite strong in Lebanon especially since Rafiq al-Hariri was murdered in a suicide truck bombing in February 2005. A UN investigation found that Syria is responsible for the murder of the Lebanese leader. The Lebanese government has been proceeding in starting an international tribune to prosecute those responsible for the assault. At first Hezbollah agreed to the tribune but Syrian officials must have changed their mind.