Rift deepens as Lebanon heads towards showdown (News Feature)

By Weedah Hamzah Jan 21, 2011, 14:32 GMT

Beirut - Growing tension between Lebanon's rival parties has sparked concern that the country may be heading towards a potentially violent showdown.

'Barring a miracle, the country is heading towards black days,' Christian Lebanese Forces bloc lawmaker Antoine Zahra said.

'There will be civil strife if the current situation stays the way it is,' he warned.

On Thursday, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri told the Lebanese people he would continue his battle against the Hezbollah- led opposition by going into Monday's parliamentary consultations as a candidate for the premiership at the helm of his western-backed majority.

But Hariri also made it clear his coalition was ready to accept the outcome of such consultations, 'no matter what the results will be,' cautioning against the use of street violence.

Lebanon's unity government collapsed on January 12 after the Shiite movement Hezbollah and its allies pulled out from Hariri's cabinet.

Hariri is currently heading a caretaker government pending the outcome of next week's consultations between Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and the country's political parties, which are divided along religious lines.

However, sources close to the president suggest those talks might be postponed to pave the way for the mediation efforts of regional players such Syria, Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Hariri's bid to hold on to power has angered the opposition, which has since increased its verbal attacks against him.

'Hariri shouldn't return to power, such a person can't be imposed on us because we want a new and clean country,' Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said.

The crisis that erupted between the Hariri coalition and the Iranian and Syrian-backed Hezbollah is mostly over a UN tribunal's probe into the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, former premier Rafik.

Political analysts are now focussing on the role of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt - once a close ally of Hariri - in the consultations.

Jumblatt heads a key bloc in parliament composed of 11 deputies: five Druze, as many Christians and a Sunni.

Jumblatt's aides have said he will vote with the Hezbollah opposition and defy his long-time ally Saad Hariri. But not all of the other members of his bloc are expected to vote with the opposition.

Hezbollah has 57 seats in parliament, while Hariri controls 60. If Jumblatt manages to gather 8 votes from his bloc, 'then the opposition is set to win the premiership,' one person familiar with the negotiations said.

Jumblatt has said that in order to avoid outbreaks of violence, he has no other option than back Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and its allies, for their part, are widely expected to nominate Omar Karameh, who has already served twice as premier.

Karami, who is a close ally of Syria, was prime minister when Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 others in a massive bomb blast in 2005.

Lebanon has barely recovered from the 1975-1990 civil war that killed more than 150,000 of its people.

And foreign and Arab diplomats are becoming increasingly concerned that the country' latest politicial crisis might lead to a new wave of sectarian violence.

Read more about Lebanon Politics