Asia

Asia

Arab League Calls Lebanese Crisis Â«SeriousÂ»

14 January 2011 19:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The resignations of 11 Hezbollah cabinet members in Lebanon has plunged the country into its worst political crisis since 2008, when sectarian street clashes claimed dozens of lives and brought Lebanon to the brink of another civil war, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.
The so-called Doha agreement of May, 2008, ended 18 months of political violence.
The latest crisis revolves around the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal investigating the suicide bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in 2005. Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain statesman, has supported the Tribunal, which has been set to blame Hezbollah. Hezbollah has denied any involvement in Haririâ€™s death, shifting the blame to Israeli.

Both Syria and Saudi Arabia had been working to mediate the controversy, but those talks broke down earlier this week without any resolution.

Hisham Youssef is the Chief of Staff for the Secretary General of the League of Arab States Amr Moussa. He spoke to VOA’s Cecily Hilleary from his office in Cairo.