BEIRUT, 13 April 2005 — Lebanon slipped deeper into a political vacuum yesterday after bickering among officials held back the formation of a new government and made a delay in general elections set for May almost inevitable. Political sources said the polls would now probably be postponed for anything from a few weeks to several months — a move certain to anger an anti-Syrian opposition keen to capitalize on public sympathy after the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri.

The United Nations and Washington have led calls for the polls to be held on schedule after Syria finishes withdrawing its military and intelligence forces from Lebanon by the end of this month. A senior military source said 10,000 troops had left Lebanon since the withdrawal began on March 8. He expected the remaining 4,000 soldiers to return home before April 30.

Top pro-Syrian officials failed again on Monday to form a government, six weeks after Prime Minister Omar Karami resigned under popular pressure over the killing of his predecessor. But he was reappointed days later and tried, but failed, to persuade Lebanon’s anti-Syrian opposition to join a unity Cabinet alongside pro-Syrian loyalists.

Last-minute squabbles among loyalists over key Cabinet posts thwarted renewed efforts by Karami, President Emile Lahoud and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to unveil on Monday a government charged with drafting an electoral law and organizing the polls.

Karami, whose resigned government has stayed on in a caretaker capacity, was angered by his allies’ last-minute angling for more influential portfolios and refused to speak to officials and politicians yesterday, pro-Syrian political sources said.

Pro-Syrian Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh has declined an offer to return to the ministry that organizes elections, demanding he get the Health Ministry and an ally be appointed to Cabinet too, they said. Parliament’s four-year term ends on May 31. The constitution requires elections to be called at least one month before voting day.

Lebanon, citing a shortage of election officials, says it is unable to hold elections in the whole country on one day, usually staggering the poll over several weekends.

If elections are not held in May, Parliament, now dominated by pro-Syrian legislators, can extend its own term by several months to avoid a total political vacuum.

Syria, meanwhile, accelerated its troop pullout from the Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon in line with its decision to complete its withdrawal from Lebanon by an April 30 deadline agreed with the United Nations. Overnight, about 220 Syrian military vehicles, including 40 tanks as well as artillery and radar equipment, were seen leaving the western flanks of Mount Hermon and heading into Syria.

Syrian troops also handed over to the Lebanese Army a “strategically important” military position in Khiara near the Masnaa border crossing into Syria, police said. On Monday, tensions rose after the pro-Syrian Lebanese guerrilla movement Hezbollah flew a drone over Israel for the second time in five months, prompting Israeli jets to fly low over southern Lebanon.