BEIRUT — Following a massive pro-Syria demonstration a day earlier, Damascus' allies here Wednesday nominated Prime Minister Omar Karami to the post he quit under pressure last week, a reversal that appeared likely to ensure Syrian control over Lebanon and served as a setback to opposition groups.
Karami's renomination drew harsh reactions from the opposition, whose calls for a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon have won backing from the United States, France, Saudi Arabia and other nations.
"We consider that it is a kind of provocation to come back with the guy who presented his resignation a week ago. It's a joke," said Samir Franjieh, a spokesman for the opposition movement. "It kind of says, 'Nothing is changing in this country.' This is the message of the renomination."
A majority of the parliament's 128 deputies favored Karami for prime minister during meetings with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, guaranteeing his reappointment. Under the Lebanese Constitution, a parliamentary majority for Karami requires Lahoud to name him as prime minister. Karami has stayed on in a caretaker capacity since quitting Feb. 28 in the face of street protests.
The move to reappoint Karami followed Tuesday's demonstration by about 500,000 supporters of the militant Hezbollah party who answered the group's call to protest pressure from the United States and its allies for Damascus to cede control over Lebanese affairs.
Speculation had grown in recent days that Karami, who faced tense protests after the assassination last month of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, would be asked to form a new government before national elections planned for May.
The protests have drawn tens of thousands of people to Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut. The protesters were elated when Karami quit amid the public outcry over Hariri's killing and Syria's domination of the country's political and economic life. U.S. officials described the fall of Karami's government as a triumph for the Lebanese people and their bid for new elections.
But analysts and opposition figures said Lebanon's pro-Syria leadership gained courage from a massive demonstration Tuesday by the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah in support of Syria. A United Nations Security Council resolution sponsored by the United States and France called on Damascus to pull its troops out of Lebanon and quit meddling in its neighbor's political affairs.
