Lebanonwire.com | Lebanon set to name Hariri ally as PM

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June 30, 2005

Lebanon set to name Hariri ally as PM

ATTENTION -with majority of MPs backing Siniora ///

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Fuad Siniora, a close ally of slain ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, was set Thursday to be named Lebanon's new prime minister to head the first government since Syria ended its three-decade troop presence.

A majority of MPs gave their backing to Siniora in consultations with President Emile Lahoud which took place as fresh violence erupted on the border with Israel, underscoring the tough challenges ahead for the new government.

An Israeli soldier was killed in an attack by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah in a disputed border region on Wednesday and there was more gunfire on Thursday when Israeli troops fired on militiamen in the same flashpoint area.

The escalation of violence comes as Israel is preparing for its Gaza Strip withdrawal and is seen by some as a message from the Syrian and Iranian-backed Hezbollah to the new government that it will not get rid of its weapons despite international demands.

Lahoud is expected shortly to formally task Siniora, 62, with forming a new government, the first of the post-Syria era after major powerbroker Damascus pulled out the last of its troops in April.

The majority political group in the parliament on Wednesday named Siniora, a former finance minister under Hariri, as its candidate following four-round elections that wrapped up earlier this month.

"The Future Movement has decided to name... Fuad Siniora ... to pursue the reforms and the development process put in motion by the martyr Rafiq Hariri," a statement from the group said.

The movement is now led by Saad Hariri, whose father Rafiq was killed on February 14 in a huge car bomb explosion in Beirut that plunged Lebanon into political turmoil and heightened the pressure on Damascus over its dominant role.

Lahoud, a Damascus protege, is himself facing calls to quit following a number of assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon. His term was controversially extended by three years under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in September.

With its political allies, in particular backers of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, the Future Movement can count on at least 72 votes for its candidate in the 128-member parliament.

Siniora was finance minister in five governments headed by Rafiq Hariri between 1992 and 2004.

Under Lebanon's sectarian system, the post of prime minister is reserved for the Sunni Muslim community.

On Tuesday, Lebanese MPs re-elected Nabih Berri, a prominent pro-Syrian Shiite, as speaker at the inaugural session of the first parliament since the 1975-90 civil war not controlled by pro-Damascus factions.

Syria, which has wielded the political and military clout in Lebanon since the end of the war, pulled out the final troops from its smaller neighbour in April in the face of strong domestic and international pressure.

UN Resolution 1559, which called for an end to the presence of foreign troops on Lebanon's soil, also calls for the dismantling of militias, a thorny issue in Lebanon where Hezbollah is still regarded as a legitimate resistance to Israel.