Lebanon reinstates pro-Syrian premier

LEBANON'S president reappointed pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami yesterday, risking a fresh battle with the opposition which had forced the Sunni Muslim politician to quit only 10 days ago.

The attempt to form another Syrian-backed government in Lebanon coincided with intense international pressure on Damascus to release its political and military grip on its neighbour. Syrian troops continued to move eastwards in line with a phased withdrawal plan agreed this week and Lebanon's defence minister said thousands were already flowing across the border.

Mr Karami, who had resigned amid a storm of anti-Syrian protests in Beirut, said his new mission was to form a national unity government to save Lebanon from destruction.

His previous cabinet was packed with pro-Syrian ministers.

"The only way to confront all the difficulties facing the nation is a government of national unity," Mr Karami told reporters.

President Emile Lahoud formally asked Mr Karami to pick a new cabinet a day after parliament, where Syria's allies have a majority, nominated him for the premiership.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he was "very unhappy" at the decision.

Some opposition politicians, who had said they wanted a cabinet excluding candidates in the parliamentary poll that must be held by May 31, said they would not join a unity government.

They also want a full Syrian pullout, the sacking of pro-Syrian security chiefs and an international inquiry into last month's killing of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. An MP loyal to Mr Hariri said her bloc would remain in opposition. "We will not take part in any government before our demands are met," Ghenwa Jalloul said.

"Reinstating Omar Karami after he fell by popular and parliamentary will is a provocation to the Lebanese public opinion that toppled him," said Christian MP Faris Said.

Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Mrad said up to half of Syria's 14,000 troops in Lebanon were on the move under the pullout plan agreed by Mr Lahoud and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday.

He said the first phase of the plan, which calls for Syrian forces to move from the north and the Beirut area to the Bekaa Valley, would be completed in about a week. Beirut and Damascus will then decide how long any Syrian troops remain.

Witnesses said at least 115 Syrian military vehicles crossed the border overnight. Smaller convoys drove into Syria after leaving positions east of Beirut.

Mr Hariri's assassination in a huge bomb blast on February 14 has plunged Lebanon into political turmoil and dramatically increased local and international pressure on Syria to remove its troops and intelligence agents from the country.

The United States has demanded that Syria withdraw fully before the elections and should not try to shape the next Lebanese government.