Lebanon’s government resigned during a cabinet meeting on Monday to discuss early elections following last week’s catastrophic explosion in Beirut, the country’s health minister has said.
“The whole government resigned,” Hamad Hassan told reporters at the end of the meeting.
Prime Minister Hassan Diab was expected to travel to the presidential palace to “hand over the resignation in the name of all the ministers,” Mr Hassan said.
Pressure has mounted on the government to step down amid growing anger from a public that holds it accountable for the explosion that damaged half the capital last Tuesday.
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In This Story: Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. No recent population census has been conducted, but 2007 estimates ranged from slightly more than 1 million to 2.2 million as part of Greater Beirut, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region and the fifteenth-largest in the Arab world.
Lebanon, officially known as the Lebanese Republic, is a country in the Levant region of Western Asia, and the transcontinental region of the Middle East.
The official language, Arabic, is the most common language spoken by the citizens of Lebanon. Its capital is Beirut.
Lebanon was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945 and is a member of the Arab League (1945), the Non-Aligned Movement (1961), Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (1969), and the Organisation internationale de la francophonie (1973).
