The verbal clash started between anti-Syrian telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh and Lahoud, whom the parliamentary majority seeks to remove from office.

"We represent the majority and Siniora was our representative at the summit. His position was the legitimate one, not yours," Hamadeh told Lahoud at the start of the cabinet session. This was in reference to the clash between Lahoud and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora at Wednesday's Arab summit in Khartoum over a draft resolution pledging to support Lebanese armed groups.

Earlier majority leader Saad Hariri said that talks aimed at breaking a long-running political deadlock were close to resolving one of the most contentious issues ... the fate of Lahoud.

"Solutions have actually been found to certain issues and there will soon be a solution to the issue of the Lebanese presidency," Hariri told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Interim Interior Minister Ahmad Fattfat told reporters that Lahoud also threatened him verbally during the session and reported the incident to the U.N. commission investigating last year's killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Lahoud told reporters Fattfat had insulted him.

Additional verbal exchanges erupted when Lahoud tried to silence the ministers as they protested in front of reporters against Lahoud's criticism of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a member of the anti-Syrian coalition that dominates parliament and cabinet.

During and after the summit, Lahoud said Siniora had spoken out of turn on the issue, without consulting him or the foreign minister.

A visibly angry Lahoud told reporters after the session ended abruptly: "This fictitious majority wants the head of the resistance ... wants all of Lebanon, but they won't go anywhere with us."

Television footage showed Lahoud yelling at one minister: "You have no right to speak in front of cameramen. You are destroying the country. Are you here to shoot a movie?"

The anti-Syrian coalition has been pushing to oust Lahoud, whom they see as the last symbol of Syrian tutelage in the country. The president has vowed to serve his full term to 2007.

Lebanon's leaders have been holding "national dialogue" talks to end the country's worst political crisis in 16 years but they have so far failed to agree on the fate of Lahoud and the disarming of Hezbollah.

The group, which was vital in ending Israel's occupation of south Lebanon, has vowed to keep its arms even if Israel withdraws from the occupied Shebaa Farms, a border area the U.N. says is Syrian unless Beirut and Damascus amend their border.

Hezbollah and Syria say the territory is Lebanese, but Syria never confirmed this in writing.

After Thursday's cabinet session, Hamadeh told reporters that "the walkout does not threaten the government" and will not affect the national dialogue process which resumes Monday. Lahoud is not taking part in the dialogue.

"The walkout is meant to protest what happened in Khartoum," Hamadeh said.

Many in Lebanon believe the extension of Lahoud's term in 2004 under pressure from Syria sparked a head-on collision between Damascus and Hariri that led to the ex-premier's death. His killing triggered mass protests in Beirut that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years.
The ongoing U.N. inquiry has already implicated senior Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies, including four generals loyal to Lahoud, in the murder. They all deny any role.

Anti-Syrian ministers also expressed their solidarity with Siniora after rare public criticism on Thursday by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, also a close ally of Damascus, for his statements in Khartoum.

Siniora toned down the ministers' position. "We all must act in a wise way for the country's sake," he said.

Top picture: President Lahoud with reporters in Beirut
Bottom picture: President Lahoud at Khartoum summit

Sources: Reuters, , Ya Libnan