LEBANON - Feb 28 - Pro-Syrian Government Quits.

The country's pro-Syrian government abruptly resigns, bowing to the demands of thousands of demonstrators who held it and its Syrian patrons responsible for the assassination of former PM Rafiq Hariri. The unexpected move followed a dramatic day of public protest in Martyrs' Square near Hariri's burial site in Beirut and a stormy parliamentary session in which opposition leaders lined up to denounce the government, some suggesting it had masterminded the assassination. US officials hailed Beirut's "cedar revolution", as PM Omar Karameh, who had refused to step down since the murder on Feb 14, announced his government's resignation "out of concern that it does not become an obstacle to the good of the country". Lebanon's popular rising has been taken by US as a fresh sign of Middle East democratisation. It comes after elections in Iraq and the occupied Palestinian territories, and Egypt's Feb 26 announcement that it would allow other candidates to challenge its president this year. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, said: I think that you're seeing across the world, most notably in the Middle East, that democracy and freedom are on the march". Karameh's resignation came after some 25,000 banner-waving protesters defied a government ban on demonstrations and marched to Martyrs' Square. Security forces set up roadblocks to limit the flow of young Lebanese streaming into Beirut but closer to the site of the protest sympathetic army officers allowed small crowds through. The resignation leaves the country facing political uncertainty and could be the beginning of an opposition struggle against Syrian dominance. The opposition, which includes Christian and Muslim MPs, wants a credible, non-partisan government to prepare for legislative elections expected in the spring and has also demanded the immediate resignation of top security chiefs. One former Hariri aide said: The resignation of the government is the first step in a very long march. We want the real government to fall". But Pres Emile Lahoud, who will consult parliament on a new government, is Syria's strongest ally and is likely to want a new cabinet in line with his objectives. "For the first time in the country's history the people have brought down the government", said Ahmad Fatfat, an MP who was a Hariri supporter. "Those who killed Hariri did not know what they accomplished they broke the fear barrier". The Lebanese opposition has blamed Syria and the pro-Syrian government for the assassination, although Damascus has vehemently denied the charge. Speaking to Lebanese TV on Feb 26, US Deputy Defence Sec Paul Wolfowitz, hailed the opposition's courage, comparing the events to last year's peaceful change in Ukraine and in the Philippines in 1987. A senior state department official also likened the demonstrations to Georgia's "rose revolution", Ukraine's "orange revolution" and what the US styles the "purple revolution" in Iraq. "In Lebanon we see growing momentum for a cedar revolution unifying that nation to the cause of true democracy", said Paula Dobriansky, under-secretary of state for global affairs.