BEIRUT — The Lebanese capital was largely quiet Thursday, one day after the collapse of the country’s government, as President Michel Suleiman took the first step toward putting together a new administration.
Suleiman asked the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to continue in a caretaker role after the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies resigned Wednesday, toppling the governing coalition. Hariri, who met Wednesday at the White House with President Barack Obama, had not yet returned from his overseas trip.
Tensions have been growing for months over the impending indictments from a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, father of the current prime minister. It is widely believed that the indictments, expected in draft form this month, will implicate members of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militant group.
On Wednesday, 11 Cabinet ministers from the Shiite group and its allies resigned in protest over the government’s failure to denounce the expected indictments. Their resignations toppled the government.
The indictments could spark sectarian clashes in Lebanon, a mixed Arab nation of Christians and Sunni and Shiite Muslims. The situation could destabilize this key Middle Eastern nation, a U.S. ally that has become a regional battleground, pitting Saudi Arabia and its Western supporters against Iran and Syria.
The stakes are high for the U.S. Hariri is Washington’s strongest ally in Lebanon, but his faction has slowly withered as Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, has grown in strength and popularity.
