Syria set to maintain grip on Lebanon

LEBANON President Emile Lahoud looks set to ask outgoing pro-Syrian prime minister Omar Karami to form a government, a step sure to anger the anti-Syrian opposition who pressured him to resign in the first place.

Mr Lahoud, buoyed by a mass rally in support of his Syrian backers, began consultations with MPs that were likely to preserve Syria’s political grip on its much smaller neighbour.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc named Karami as prime minister, as did the deputies of guerrilla group Hizbollah. Karami resigned as prime minister last week after huge anti-Syrian protests in Beirut but stayed on as caretaker.