Lebanon: Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned that the Lebanese government will soon collapse, accusing the US-backed cabinet of collaborating with Israel during this summer's conflict.
"This government will go and there will soon be a new, clean government," Mr Nasrallah told residents of Beirut's southern suburbs, who had gathered on Monday to discuss compensation for homes destroyed during the war.
The Shia leader's unannounced appearance followed a day of deepening division in the country, with a sixth government minister from the cabinet offering his resignation. The environment minister, Yacoub Sarraf, a Christian, resigned saying he was unwilling to participate in a Lebanese government devoid of Shia representation.
"I don't see myself belonging to any constitutional authority in which an entire sect is absent," Mr Sarraf wrote in his letter of resignation.
Hizbullah and Lebanon's other Shia group, Amal, pulled their ministers out of the cabinet on Saturday in protest at the government's refusal to heed their demand for a "national unity" cabinet that would effectively give Hizbullah and its allies veto power over important decisions, such as legislation aimed at curbing its armed status and expanding the mandate of the Unifil forces. The prime minister, Fouad Siniora, has rejected all six resignations.
Mr Nasrallah has demanded one-third of the 24 cabinet seats, prompting some ministers to accuse Hizbullah of seeking veto rights to protect its ally, Syria, from prosecution by foiling efforts to establish a UN-sponsored tribunal to try those accused of assassinating the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.
Criticising the government's failure to provide adequate compensation to those who lost their homes during the war, Mr Nasrallah told the residents they would soon have "a clean-handed government" to oversee reparations.
The information minister, Ghazi Aridi, dismissed the Shia leader's remarks. "This government is very clean and very clear," he said, adding: "They [ the opposition] want a government based on what? We need to agree on a political programme before we can discuss changing the government. Anyway, they can't form a government without the majority."
A poll published last week by the Beirut Centre for Research and Information suggests nearly 60 per cent of Lebanese support the opposition, with 70 per cent seeking the formation of a new national government.
Mr Nasrallah also repeated accusations that the current government had known in advance of Israel's plan to attack Hizbullah. Mr Aridi denied the claims, saying Mr Siniora had already responded to the accusations.