Word: saad
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Five months after Lebanon's parliamentary elections, Prime Minister--designate Saad Hariri managed to form a unity government. Though the resolution to what had been a contentious political stalemate left Hariri's Western-backed coalition with the most ministerial posts, the opposing faction led by the Iranian-backed militia Hizballah--which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization--gained crucial Cabinet positions. The power-sharing agreement was welcomed by the U.N., but critics admonished Hariri for conceding to Hizballah's demands and potentially legitimizing its military presence in the country...
...Saad Hariri, son of the murdered former Prime Minister and leader of the ruling coalition, initially balked at Hizballah's terms, but eventually had no choice but to give in. Lebanon's longstanding deadly rivalries and the ever present threat of violence have made Lebanese politicians wary of acting unilaterally, which is why Hariri invited Hizballah and its allies into the Cabinet in the first place. And Hariri is increasingly isolated, with none of his allies being prepared to confront Hizballah head-on given the experience of the May 2008 mini-civil...
...opposition 57. Recently, however, MP Walid Jounblatt, the leader of the Druze majority, broke off from the March 14 coalition and formed a center bloc. Currently, no coalition has a simple majority, and the parliament is broken up into three groups. In light of the fragile situation, MP Saad Hariri was nominated to form a unity government: his attempts have yet to come to fruition...
...Dearborn's 100,000 residents, and few CIA directors have visited here, much less sought to recruit. "If you had told me some years ago that the boss of the CIA would come here and ask for our help, I would not have believed it," said Baha Saad, a local restaurateur. "To do that takes some balls." (See pictures of the adventures and misadventures...
...exception to the maxim that all politics is local. With so many foreign powers meddling in the country's perennially sectarian struggle for control, Lebanon functions as a kind of political barometer of the Middle East. And that's why the news Thursday, Sept. 10, that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri had given up trying to form a consensus government three months after his ruling coalition won the country's parliamentary elections is a sign of a more general unease in the region: Lebanon's political crisis - and the broader Middle East cold war of which it is an expression...