Banks, factories and other businesses started to observe a two-day general strike in a bid to push pro-Syrian ministers who resigned to rejoin the government ahead of a Saturday cabinet meeting to endorse the international tribunal of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
A statement by the Economic Committee was issued Thursday following a meeting of the representatives of the country's major business groups. It called on pro- and anti-Syrian groups to refrain from demands for street protests, saying the "economy cannot handle further setbacks."
Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has also called on the resigned ministers to rejoin the government ahead of the cabinet meeting that will review the tribunal to try suspects of the 2005 murder of ex-premier Hariri.
Meanwhile, several hundred Hizbullah supporters blocked a road leading to Beirut airport Thursday night and burned tires in the streets of Beirut's Mar Elias commercial thoroughfare and Zokak al-Blat. Security forces and Lebanese army troops quickly dispersed the supporters on the airport road and removed the burning tires.
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ordered Hizbullah members to leave the streets "immediately and instantly."
Speaking on an audio tape played on Hizbullah's Al-Manar television late Thursday, Nasrallah said: "The situation is very sensitive and critical. There are many who do not wish well for the country. We must bear all this with responsibility and restrain our feelings about what happened today."
