The AP and Fox News are reporting that Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karami has announced his government’s resignation in parliament. No link yet.

This came before the debate on a no-confidence vote was to begin.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE:

Boston Herald:

Karami made the announcement during a parliamentary debate called to discuss Hariri’s Feb. 14 assassination in a bomb blast that killed 16 others. The announcement prompted cheers from more than 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers outside.
The resignation was the most dramatic moment yet in the series of protests and political maneuvers that have shaken Lebanon since Hariri’s killing.
Many in Lebanon blame Syria for being behind Hariri’s slaying and have pressed hard since then for the resignation of the pro-Syrian Lebanese government and for Syria to withdraw its 15,000 troops positioned in Lebanon.
Both governments have denied involvement in Hariri’s assassination.
Earlier Monday, Karami asked the legislature to renew its confidence in his Cabinet, which took power in October after Hariri’s resignation in a dispute with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon.

Reuters:

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s Syrian-backed Prime Minister Omar Karami, under popular pressure after the assassination of an ex-prime minister, says his government is resigning.

“Out of concern that the government does not become an obstacle to the good of the country, I announce the resignation of the government I had the honour to lead,” Karami told parliament in Beirut on Monday.

Ah, the sweet music of democratic revolution!

UPDATE II: From Khaleej Times:

The announcement of the government????????s resignation came after a day of protests in Martyr????????s Square, a few blocks from parliament. The protesters danced to patriotic songs, waved hundreds of Lebanese flags, and handed out red roses to the hundreds of soldiers and police around them.

Led by banking and business associations, much of Lebanon also observed a one-day strike in memory of Hariri on Monday, allowing lawyers in black robes and doctors in white gowns to join the demonstration.

Protesters also prayed in front of candles at the flower-covered grave of Hariri, which lies at the edge of the square.

???????You can tell from the looks in the soldiers???????? eyes, and from their smiles, their true stand,??????? said Hamadeh, who was in the square before going to parliament. Hamadeh himself was the target of a bomb attack in October that killed his driver.

Keep in mind that pictures of today’s events are being broadcast throughout the Middle East by al-Jazeera.

UPDATE III:

Hariri , Hamadeh Speak To Parliament

Parliament member Bahia Hariri won a standing ovation in parliament Monday as she held Karami’s government largely responsible for her brother Rafik Hariri’s assassination and demanded the immediate ouster of the government.

As most of parliament members applauded, tens of thousands of opposition activists maintaining a vigil at Hariri’s nearby grave burst in thunderous applaud as they watched through a giant screen at Martyrs Square Bahia Hariri’s moving speech inside parliament.

Legislator Marwan Hamadeh stole the limelight when he openly accused Karami’s government of acting only when it receives orders from Syria’s military intelligence chief in Lebanon Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh. “I don’t see a prime minister or cabinet minister on the government benches today. They simply don’t exist,” he said demanding that commanders of the Surete Generale, the military intelligence bureau and the state security apparatus be fired at once and brought to trial for complicity in the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

He also demanded the removal of President Lahoud’s regime. Hamadeh told cabinet ministers specially Justice Minister Adnan Addoum that the day will come “when we shall drag you to stand trial like Slobodan Milosevic.”

LEBANON ERUPTS INTO CELEBRATION:

BEIRUT, Feb 28 (AFP) – The Lebanese capital exploded in rapturous cheers on Monday as tens of thousands of demonstrators hailed the “people power” that led to the downfall of the government in the face of unprecedented public protests.

In scenes reminiscent of the “orange revolution” in Ukraine, Beirut was a sea of red and white Lebanese flags as Prime Minister Omar Karameh announced his resignation two weeks after his predecessor Rafiq Hariri was murdered.

“For the first time, Lebanese public opinion has won,” said Ghinwa Jallul, an MP with Hariri’s political bloc.

Demonstrators who have been staging almost daily protests against the regime and its Syrian backers since Hariri’s killing burst into boisterous applause as they watched Karameh’s announcement on a giant television screen.

Fireworks and car horns greeted the news around the capital and in other towns as people hugged each other, chanting triumphantly “he’s resigned, he’s resigned”.

“Karameh has fallen, your turn will come, Lahoud, and yours, Bashar,” the demonstrators chanted, referring to President Emile Lahoud and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.

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

This, while Syria cuts off its own nose:

DAMASCUS, Feb 28 (AFP) – The resignation of Lebanon’s pro-Syrian government amid mass protests Monday was an “internal matter” for Beirut, a Syrian official said, while expressing hope it would help end the current crisis.

Damascus wanted to see “a new government emerge that is capable of advancing Lebanese affairs in the interests of the country and the region in the current extremely delicate circumstances,” the official said.