Amin al-Hafez | Ex-Lebanese premier, 83

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Amin al-Hafez, 83, who served a turbulent two-month term in 1973 before he was forced to resign, died Monday in a Beirut hospital.

A Sunni Muslim, Mr. Hafez was picked by President Suleiman Franjieh to form a government in 1973.

Although the prime minister's job is reserved for a Sunni under Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing system, Sunni religious leaders who opposed Franjieh refused to recognize the appointment. Mr. Hafez was forced to resign about two months later.

The crisis, along with a battle between Lebanese troops and Palestinian guerrillas that year, contributed to the tensions that burst into all-out civil war in 1975. The sectarian conflict lasted 15 years and killed 150,000 people.

Mr. Hafez later served as a member of parliament, representing his hometown of Tripoli until 1996.

- AP