Lebanon President Urges Unity After PM Hariri Quits, Toppling Coalition of Sectarian Groups
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's president appealed for national unity on Monday after Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri quit in a broadcast from Saudi Arabia, toppling the country's coalition government that grouped the country's main sectarian factions.
His resignation exposed Lebanon again to the sharp end of rivalry for Middle East predominance between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which has also wrought upheaval in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain.
In a televised speech on Saturday, Hariri - a Sunni Muslim - shocked his small nation by saying he was resigning and feared an assassination plot against him, accusing Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah of breeding strife in the Arab world.
The government, which was painstakingly devised to accommodate key sectarian groups, includes the Iran-backed, Shi'ite Hezbollah. Its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of forcing Hariri to step down and said there were "legitimate questions" over whether he had been detained in the kingdom.
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