Lebanon's political crisis worsened today, with government ministers fearing for their lives, businesses on strike and all sides ignoring calls for dialogue.
Several hundred supporters of pro-Syria Hezbollah burned tires and blocked the road from Beirut to the airport before the Islamic militant group's leader ordered them home, but the US-backed government pressed ahead with an issue that was likely to further anger Hezbollah.
The Cabinet will meet tomorrow to give its final approval to a UN-created international court to try four pro-Syrian generals suspected in the February 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Tuesday's assassination of Interior Minister Pierre Gemayelan anti-Syrian Christian leader has reignited anger at Damascus, which dominated Lebanon for nearly three decades but was forced to withdraw its troops last year over accusations it was behind Hariri's killing.
Damascus has denied any role in the slayings of Hariri, Gemayel or four other anti-Syrian politicians over the past two years.
An estimated 800,000 government supporters - a fifth of the population - turned out for Gemayel's funeral yesterday, turning it into a political rally against Syria as Lebanon's ethnic groups faced their sharpest divisions since the 1975-90 civil war.
"Even at the height of the civil war, Lebanon has never witnessed this level of polarization among its sects, this kind of political mobilization and the crisis at such a dead end," wrote Sateh Noureddine, managing editor of the daily As-Safir.
Fearing a meltdown, business leaders called a two-day strike starting Friday to urge the rival leaders to "take national decisions ... engage in dialogue and stop making threats of street protests."
Factories, banks and financial institutions closed today. Though many small shops remained open, many schools shut down and traffic was thinner than normal on Beirut's usually bustling streets.