BEIRUT — President Emile Lahoud said Friday that Lebanon is in a "state of emergency" and ordered the army to take over security powers, hours before he was stepping down without a successor and leaving a political vacuum in the divided country. The pro-Western government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora rejected the move, raising tensions.
The announcement by the pro-Syrian president immediately raised further confusion amid Lebanon's political turmoil, which many fear could explode into violence between supporters of the government and the opposition.
The president cannot declare a state of emergency without approval from the government, but Lahoud's spokesman said Saniora's government is considered unconstitutional.
"The president of the republic declares that because a state of emergency exists all over the land as of Nov. 24, 2007, the army is instructed to preserve security all over the Lebanese territory and places all the armed forces at its disposal," presidential spokesman Rafik Shalala said.
A armoured vehicle secures an intersection in Beirut on Friday as the Lebanese army was deployed heavily in the capital. (Joseph Barrak/AFP/Getty Images)
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The statement instructed the army "to submit the measures it takes to the Cabinet once there is one that is constitutional," he said.
Mr. Saniora's government rejected the announcement.
"It has no value and is unconstitutional and consequently it is considered as if it was not issued," said a government spokesman, who asked not to be identified because an official announcement has not yet been made by the prime minister.
The spokesman said the constitution stipulates that the Cabinet — not the president — has the authority to declare a state or emergency and to give the army the authority to take over security.
"Any decision not issued by the Cabinet has no constitutional value," the spokesman told The Associated Press.
The army command refused to comment on the developments.
The military had already been on alert for several days, deploying hundreds of troops in tanks, armored personnel carriers and jeeps along intersections leading to Beirut and around the downtown area where the parliament building is located. The city was normal throughout the day, but traffic was lighter than usual, and most schools were closed.
Mr. Lahoud was still expected to step down when his term ends at midnight Friday. Both sides had been counting on the military to ensure calm in the political chaos, and it was unclear if Lahoud's announcement would give the military any powers beyond security measures.
But his talk of a "state of emergency" raised already high tempers as both sides enter a new phase of trying to find a new president for the country.
Parliament made a final attempt Friday afternoon to convene to vote on a president before Lahoud leaves office. But the opposition, led by the Shia militant group Hezbollah, boycotted the session, preventing it from reaching the necessary two-thirds quorum.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is aligned with the opposition, scheduled another session for Nov. 30 to give the factions more time to try to find a compromise candidate — which they have failed to do in weeks of talks mediated by France's foreign minister and other international officials.
Leaders from each side were pledging not to take steps to provoke the other — though Mr. Lahoud's announcement raises the heat.
"We have no choice but to have a consensus," Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, said after the failed session. "It is not in Lebanon's interest that the (presidential) palace is left empty."
The presidency is the latest front in the power struggle between the anti-Syrian coalition that holds a slim majority in parliament and the opposition, led by Syria and Iran's ally, Hezbollah. The anti-Syrians have tried to put one of their own in the presidency to replace Mr. Lahoud, a staunch ally of Damascus, but have been blocked by opposition boycotts of the legislature.
Much of what happens next in Lebanon — a battleground between the West and the Syria-Iran axis — may depend in part on Tuesday's U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace conference. Syria has not formally decided whether to go to Annapolis, Md., but it likely will.
Government supporters have accused Syria of using its allies in Lebanon to block a deal on the presidency until it sees what it gets in the conference. Damascus wants Annapolis to address its demands for the return of the Israeli-held Golan Heights.
