Lebanon’s Siniora cabinet veered into crisis Tuesday Dec. 13 when five pro-Syrian and Shiite ministers “suspended” their membership

They were applying pressure against the government’s call for an international inquiry into the bomb-car murder of editor and lawmaker Gebran Tueini Monday and other political assassinations. The ministers include foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh, Hizballah’s Labor minister Trad Hamadeh, two Shiite Amal ministers allied with the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud and Christian environment minister Yacoub Sarraf.
Their action coincided with the submission of the final UN inquiry report which uncovered fresh evidence implicating Syria in the Hariri murder and showing how Damascus obstructed the probe.
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and other leading politicians accused Syria of the Tueini assassination in which three Lebanese were killed and a whole street damaged.