The Lebanese prime minister resigned today along with his entire cabinet in the face of mass protests against the country's pro-Syrian government

The resignation of Omar Karameh and his team has brought to a head a political crisis sparked by the murder two weeks ago of his predecessor, Rafiq Hariri. Syrian agents are suspected of the assassination.

"I announce the resignation of the government over which I had the honour of presiding so that it does not pose an obstacle" to the probe into the killing, an emotional Mr Karameh told parliament.

The announcement was greeted with loud applause in the national assembly, where the opposition had been seeking a vote of no confidence in Mr Karameh’s four-month-old government.

President Emile Lahoud quickly accepted the resignation and asked Mr Karameh to continue in a caretaker capacity, a presidential statement said.

Outside, fireworks and car horns greeted the news around the capital and in other towns. Tens of thousands of jubilant demonstrators, gathered in a sea of red and white Lebanese flags at the nearby Martyrs’ Square in central Beirut, broke into singing the national anthem.

"Your turn will come, Lahoud, and yours, Bashar," the demonstrators chanted, referring to President Lahoud and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad.

The crowd, estimated to number some 60,000, had defied a government ban on demonstrations and massed in the heart of Beirut, as parliament held the debate on Mr Hariri’s murder in a huge bomb blast on February 14.

Making his announcement, Mr Karameh said that he was resigning even though the government had enough votes to win a confidence motion.

"To fire off political accusations pinning the responsibility of this criminal murder on the government without any proof is a grave injustice," he said in an earlier session of the house before a recess.

Mr Karameh’s cabinet took office after Mr Hariri, a five-time prime minister and billionaire businessman, resigned in October in a row over the extent of Syrian influence in his country. Syria has kept 14,000 troops billeted in the Lebanon since the end of the civil war 15 years ago, and has kept a tight grip on the levers of political power.

Mr Hariri's assassination triggered a wave of public opposition against the Lebanese government and its backers in Damascus.

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