Beirut, Lebanon (CNN) -- Members of the powerful Hezbollah movement and its allies brought down Lebanon's unity government Wednesday after resigning from Prime Minister Saad Hariri's Cabinet.
Minister of State Adnan Sayyed Hussein turned in his resignation along with 10 members of the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance, meaning that the threshold needed -- 11 resignations from the 30-member Cabinet -- to collapse the government had been reached.
Hariri was meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House as the political crisis erupted in Lebanon.
"The efforts by the Hezbollah-led coalition to collapse the Lebanese government only demonstrate their own fear and determination to block the government's ability to conduct its business and advance the aspirations of all of the Lebanese people," Obama said.
Hariri next heads to Paris, where he is expected to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Hariri's office said.
Lebanon's government has been at an impasse over the U.N.-backed special tribunal's investigation of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the current premier's father. It is widely expected the tribunal will indict members of Shiite Muslim Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Doha, Qatar, for a Middle East forum, said the tribunal was on the verge of handing down indictments. CNN
