Beirut - Hezbollah and its allies won support on Monday to nominate their candidate for Lebanon's prime minister, giving them the upper hand in attempts to form a government and sparking accusations of a pro-Iranian coup.
Telecoms tycoon Najib Mikati, backed by a Hezbollah-led coalition, looked set to be asked to form a government after the first of two days of consultations among Lebanese politicians.
Caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, whose government collapsed earlier this month, said he and his group would not serve in an administration dominated by Hezbollah, and Hariri supporters in north Lebanon called for a “day of anger”.
“As for the coup that Hezbollah is carrying out, it is an attempt to put the office of prime minister under the control of Wilayat al Fakih (Iran's clerical authority)”, Hariri loyalist Mustafa Alloush said in the northern city of Tripoli.
Lebanon's power-sharing political system calls for the post of prime minister to be held by a Sunni and Hariri supporters said any figure who accepted a mandate from Hezbollah to form a new government would be considered a traitor.
Hariri supporters protested in several cities on Monday, blocking streets in Tripoli, burning tyres to cut the main north-south highway outside the southern town of Sidon, and demonstrating in Beirut before they were dispersed by security forces. The road to Syria through the Bekaa Valley was also cut.
The United States, which has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, said a big role for the Shi'a militant group could complicate Washington's ties with Lebanon and affect US aid. Hezbollah says the United States sabotaged earlier mediation talks between Hariri and Hezbollah.
Hezbollah and its allies walked out of Hariri's unity government on Jan. 12 in a dispute over still confidential indictments by a UN-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, the prime minister's father.
The political deadlock has deepened sectarian divisions in Lebanon and the prospect of a government formed by Hezbollah will alarm Israel, which fought a month-long, inconclusive war with Hezbollah guerrillas in 2006.
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said at the weekend there was a danger that an “Iranian government” would be established in Lebanon. He said Hezbollah “would no longer be merely a terrorist group operating with Iran's backing, but a terrorist group in control of the country”. - Reuters