BEIRUT, Feb 18: Lebanon's tourism minister resigned on Friday and Syria named a new military intelligence chief amid political turbulence following the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al Hariri.

Mr Hariri's killing in Beirut on Monday sparked anti-Syrian fury among many Lebanese and renewed world pressure on Damascus to loosen its political grip and remove its troops from Lebanon.

The Lebanese opposition declared an "uprising for independence" on Friday and called for the pro-Syrian regime to step down so that a new government can be formed to oversee a Syrian military pullout from Lebanon.

"In response to the criminal and terrorist policy of the Lebanese and Syrian authorities, the Lebanese opposition declares the democratic and peaceful intifada for independence," said leading opposition figure Samir Frangieh.

Tourism Minister Farid al Khazen, a Maronite Christian, said he had quit because the Syrian-backed government was unable to 'remedy the dangerous situation in the country'.

Syrian President Bashar al Assad named his brother-in-law, Maj Gen Asef Shawkat, as head of military intelligence to replace retiring Maj Gen Hassan Khalil. Syrian sources said the change took effect on Monday, Gen Khalil's 60th birthday.

In August, President Assad issued a decree barring the extension of service terms of all officials in the armed forces. Mr Khazen was the first minister to resign after Mr Hariri's assassination.

"There is no substitute for national dialogue on the basis of the Taif agreement," he said, referring to the deal that ended the 1975-1990 civil war and committed Syria to moving the troops it keeps in Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa Valley.

The pro-Syrian government has come under intense pressure from Lebanon's opposition to resign since Mr Hariri was killed, along with 14 other people, in a huge bomb blast.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and other opposition figures have blamed the government and its Syrian backers for Mr Hariri's death. Mr Jumblatt told reporters the president, prime minister and cabinet should quit and Syrian troops should leave Lebanon.

"This isn't just the opposition," he said. "All the Lebanese are with Hariri, a free Lebanon and Syrian withdrawal."

Walid Jumblatt, a former Syrian ally, has joined his Christian civil war foes in urging Damascus to quit Lebanon. Mr Hariri had moved to a similar position in the months before his death.

BACK TO BUSINESS: Traffic jams returned to Beirut streets on Friday after three days of mourning for the Sunni billionaire.

"We ask the state to unveil the perpetrators ... and not to close the file of the martyred Hariri along with the long list of other unresolved crimes," Sheikh Ahmed al Kurdi told worshippers in a downtown mosque near where Hariri was buried.

Lebanese of all religious beliefs have flocked to Mr Hariri's grave to bring flowers and light candles since his funeral on Wednesday turned into a mass anti-Syrian street protest.

SWISS HELP SOUGHT: The Swiss foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that Lebanon had asked for specialized forensic help in the assassination of Rafik Hariri. President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon said earlier that he was asking for help after an investigating magistrate sought Swiss expertise in explosives and DNA analysis.