Junblat renews call on Lahoud to resign

The opposition Druz leader Walid Junblat renewed his demand to the resignation of the Lebanese President Emil Lahoud to resign.

In a press conference in Beirut, Junblat said that Lahoud's resignation might create what he called a new Lebanon "where the President will not be a mere puppet for Syria but an alley to it and can talk to it freely." He explained that a serious dialogue to establish friendship relations between the two states without an intervention from one side in the other's affairs will start immediately after the election of a new president.

The Druz leader indicated that the opposition will not take part in a national union government as long as Lahoud is in power.

Junblat expected the collapse of any government to be formed by the designated prime minister Omar Karami the same its former government collapsed on February 28. He stressed continued dialogue with Hizbullah and that few opposition members want to disarm the Lebanese resistance.