Lebanese unity government collapses

CAIRO - The Lebanese government collapsed yesterday after ministers from the Shia group Hezbollah and its allies resigned in advance of expected indictments by a UN-backed tribunal investigating the killing of the prime minister's father.

Eleven ministers quit the 14- month-old unity government, immediately toppling the crippled administration. The move is a major blow to Sunni Muslim Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and his backers, the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Hariri was in Washington and met with President Obama but cut his visit short.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was in Qatar yesterday for meetings with Persian Gulf leaders, strongly condemned Hezbollah's decision, which she suggested was a deliberate provocation. "We view what happened today as a transparent effort by those forces inside Lebanon as well as interests outside Lebanon to subvert justice and undermine security and progress," said Clinton. "We believe the work of the Special Tribunal must go forward so that justice can be served."

Hezbollah leaders have denied any role in the death of Rafik al-Hariri, the former prime minister who was killed in a bombing along Beirut's waterfront in February 2005. They have called the Special Tribunal to Lebanon an "Israeli project," urging the government to renounce it, a demand Hariri has resisted. Draft indictments are expected this month.

Hariri's opponents said they resigned their posts after the prime minister rejected an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the tribunal.

Gebran Basil, the Christian energy minister, asked the president to form a new government on behalf of the March 8 Alliance, a coalition of parties that includes Hezbollah and is generally viewed as pro-Syrian, according to the state-owned National News Agency.

The announcement comes a day after Saudi Arabia and Syria failed to reach agreement to defuse tensions over the tribunal.