US Pressure Triggers Collapse of Lebanese Government

by Bill Van Auken, Global Research

Lebanon’s misnamed “national unity” government fell Wednesday after the political bloc led by Hezbollah withdrew over the failure to reach an agreement on policy toward a United Nations probe into the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

Underlying the government’s collapse are the growing social and political tensions in Lebanon, which have been stoked by outside intervention, most powerfully from Washington. The opening up of a new period of political turmoil in the country carries with it the threat of renewed internal sectarian strife and even war in the region.