Lebanon: Resignation of three ministers and 9 members of parliament

On Sunday, Lebanon's Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad and environment minister Damianos Kattar resigned from the government in the wake of the Beirut explosion and the pressure that followed. Nine members of parliament also resigned that day: Marwan Hamadeh, Paula Yaacoubian, Nadim Gemayel, Samy Gemayel, Elias Hankash, Neemat Ephrem, Michel Moawad, Dima Jamali and Henry Helou.

On Monday the Justice Minister Marie Claude Najm also resigned and urged others to resign as well and demanded earlier elections. She said she resigned "out of my conviction that staying in power in these conditions, without fundamental change to the system, will not lead to the reform which we worked to achieve."