Gebran Bassil
On 12 January 2011, the government collapsed after Energy Minister Gebran Bassil announced that all ten opposition ministers had resigned following months of warnings by Hezbollah that it would not remain inactive should there be indictments against the group by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Preliminary indictments were issued 17 January as expected,) President Michel Suleiman's appointed Minister of State, Adnan Sayyed Hussein, resigned later bringing the total number of ministers who quit to 11 thus causing the fall of the government. The "New York Times" suggested that the resignations came after the collapse of talks between Syria and Saudi Arabia to ease tensions in Lebanon. The resignations stemmed from PM Hariri's refusal to call an emergency cabinet session over discussion for withdrawing cooperation with the STL.