Israel responds to Lebanese rockets with artillery fire

AT LEAST eight Israeli artillery shells hit the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Qlaileh yesterday in retaliation for two rockets fired across the border into open fields in northern Israel.

Although no damage or casualties were reported, the Israeli military spokesman said Israel “views these incidents as very severe, and we hold the government of Lebanon responsible”.

Lebanon remains under a caretaker cabinet as the ruling and opposition parties begin intensive consultations on the formation of a new cabinet following the announcement on Thursday by premier-designate Saad Hariri that he was stepping down.

Mr Hariri resigned after the Hizbullah-led opposition refused to accept the line-up he had chosen for the 30-member cabinet. The opposition argued that he could not select its 10 ministers and that there has to be agreement on sharing out of portfolios.

Michel Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) objected to Mr Hariri’s refusal to reappoint Gebran Bassil, Mr Aoun’s son-in-law, as minister of telecommunications.

The new minister will preside over privatisation of two state-owned mobile firms, a $7 billion (€4.8 billion) process.

Mr Aoun is important to the opposition because the FPM holds 27 of its 57 seats and is the largest Christian faction in parliament, giving the coalition, dominated by the Shia Hizbullah and Amal movements, multi-confessional and national colouration.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who has distanced himself from the alliance of Sunni and Christian factions chaired by Mr Hariri, blamed both sides for the crisis, called for calm, and said he would join only a national unity government formed on the basis of the agreed formula which gives 15 seats to Mr Hariri’s majority, 10 to the opposition and five to the president.

Mr Jumblatt accused the US and some Arab parties of rejecting an understanding between Riyadh and Damascus on the formation of a unity cabinet.

An informant said Mr Hariri “is new to politics. He was groomed for business” by his billionaire father and former prime minister Rafik Hariri, killed by a massive car bomb in 2005.

A diplomatic source in Beirut noted that Mr Hariri’s decision to appoint opposition ministers unilaterally was taken following a meeting with the US ambassador, Michele Sison, who had been keeping a low profile. Her intervention seemed to indicate the Obama administration may have shifted to the interventionist line adopted by the Bush administration, the source stated.

Paul Salem, director of the Middle East Centre at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that Mr Hariri’s move should be seen “as part of a very tough bargaining process . . . the resignation . . . raises the issue of government formation . . . to an international platform and, with some regional diplomacy, it can be brought back on track.”