Lebanon government set to be announced, ending stalemate

Lebanese prime minister-designate Tammam Salam is to announce a compromise government later Saturday, party sources told AFP, ending a 10-month vacuum as the war in Syria rages next door. Salam was at the presidential palace outside Beirut, where other senior political figures, including the speaker of parliament, were expected to gather for the announcement, the sources added. The government is expected to include members of both the powerful Shiite movement Hezbollah and the Sunni-led bloc of ex-premier Saad Hariri. Multiple attempts to form a government over the past 10 months have stumbled, with Lebanon's long-standing political divisions deepened by differences over the war in Syria. But Hariri announced on January 21 that his bloc was prepared to join a government of national unity with Hezbollah and its allies, despite its strong opposition to the group's military intervention in Syria. Hezbollah has dispatched fighters to the conflict to bolster its ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Hariri and his bloc oppose the regime in Damascus and support the uprising against Assad.