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State of emergency declared
in Lebanon
Tim Butcher
London
Telegraph
Saturday November 24, 2007
Lebanon is bracing itself for violence after the
pro-Syrian president declared a state of emergency to stop power
passing to rivals loyal to the prime minister.
Just hours before his presidential term expired at midnight,
President Emile Lahoud said he was handing power to the army to
"preserve security all over the Lebanese territory".
Politicians in Beirut had earlier failed to elect a new president,
leaving the small but volatile Middle Eastern nation without a
head of state for the first time in more than a decade.
The anti-Syrian prime minister, Fouad Siniora, immediately rejected
the move, raising the prospect of a power struggle similar to
that which plunged Lebanon into 15 brutal years of civil war in
1975.
(Article continues below)
Mr Lahoud made his dramatic announcement with just a few hours
remaining of his nine years in office.
A spokesman for Mr Siniora's government responded that the statement
"has no value and is unconstitutional and consequently it
is considered as if it was not issued".
Large numbers of troops were deployed on the streets of Beirut
and dozens of MPs were holed up in a heavily-guarded hotel in
the centre of a city where political assassination is a way of
life.
Fears also spread that groups loyal to Syria, including the powerful
and militant Shia group Hizbollah, may move to set up a parallel
government.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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