Lebanon in political crisis

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A ROW between pro-Syrian Hizbollah guerrillas and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has plunged Lebanon deeper into a political crisis that has paralysed the Government and divided the country along sectarian lines.

In an unprecedented attack, Jumblatt accused Shiite Muslim Hizbollah of hiding behind its "weapons of treachery", capping a month-old campaign against the group that is under pressure to disarm in line with a UN resolution. Hizbollah, close to Syria and Iran, responded with a biting attack against Mr Jumblatt, the most outspoken critic of Syria's domination of Lebanon after the 1975-1990 civil war.

"Which are the weapons of treachery, the weapons of the resistance or those of Walid Jumblatt? The arms that liberated and protected Lebanon or those that destroyed, expelled, burned, killed and committed massacres?" it said referring to his role as a warlord during the war. "If treachery was embodied as a man in these bad times, it would be Walid Jumblatt".

The standoff spilled over into a public slanging match after a flurry of diplomatic efforts failed last week to reach a compromise over a U.N. inquiry that has implicated Syria in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew to Egypt and Saudi Arabia last weekend for talks on Lebanon, though Damascus has since rejected a U.N. request to question him over the case. Lebanon's sectarian political system is showing the strains of divisions over Damascus.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17834717%255E1702,00.html