Lebanon’s PM Mikati resigns
Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced his resignation Friday after the Shiite Hizballah prevented the creation of a body to supervise parliamentary elections and blocked the extension of Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi’s term.
DEBKAfile: His resignation takes Lebanon another step toward the resurgence of civil war as the country becomes sharply polarized between HIzballah and other pro- Assad factions and the Sunni and Christian factions who support Syrian rebels. The army is equally divided against itself and in no state to break up clashes between the rival camps. This week, the destabilizing pressure on Beirut from Damascus peaked with Syrian air attacks inside Lebanon on Syrian rebel bases.