Nasrallah vows to press ahead with protests

 Nasrallah said members of the government, whom he would not name, had asked American envoys to get Israel to destroy Hezbollah.

Beirut: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday accused Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of conniving with Israel during the recent war, alleging he ordered Lebanese soldiers to seize weapons being delivered to Hezbollah fighters.

The charge, made in a speech to thousands of supporters in central Beirut, was Nasrallah's strongest-ever attack on the government, which Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to topple by mass demonstrations.

"Didn't the prime minister of Lebanon work to cut off the supply lines?" Nasrallah said, referring to the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah that ended with a UN-brokered ceasefire in August.

He said members of the government, whom he would not name, had asked American envoys to get Israel to destroy Hezbollah.

'Those are the ones responsible for the war, not the resistance,' Nasrallah said.

The conflict began after Hezbollah fighters seized two Israeli soldiers.

The man who was Lebanon's acting interior minister during the war, Ahmed Fatfat, rejected Nasrallah's accusation and challenged him to name names.

Speaking on Al Arabiya television shortly after Nasrallah's speech, Fatfat said: 'This is very serious talk because he almost accused me personally. This is very dangerous because it means bloodshed for Siniora and me."

In his speech, delivered on huge screens in two central Beirut squares, Nasrallah said the opposition's daily protests would continue until it achieved a bigger share of the Cabinet, but he also said he was prepared to negotiate and violence was not an option.

'We are a people that will not be defeated in the battle of wills,' he said.

Siniora, who is supported by the majority in parliament, has repeatedly refused to resign and has rejected the demand by Hezbollah and its allies for a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet. 'Negotiate with us and we will talk to you,' Nasrallah said, addressing what he called the 'illegitimate government.'

'But in the name of all those gathered here, we will not leave the streets before achieving the goal that saves Lebanon,' he said, to roars of approval from the crowd.

It was only the second time since the August cease-fire that Nasrallah had spoken live to a mass rally. The first time - in September - he appeared at the rally in southern Beirut.

Last night, he did not appear for security reasons, but spoke via video link to huge screens set up in Riad Solh Square and Martyrs' Square, pausing occasionally for the crowds to stop cheering.

Hezbollah and its opposition allies have staged daily protests for the past week in a bid to force the government's resignation. Siniora has been holed up in the main government office complex, which is ringed by troops, riot police and barbed wire.

Nasrallah referred to warnings from politicians from all sides, as well as the commander of the national army, that the mass protests could turn increasingly violent and drag the country back to the civil war of 1975-90.

One young Shiite was shot dead in a riot in a predominantly Sunni area on Sunday night.

'We will not lift our weapons in the face of anyone. We don't need weapons to defeat you,' Nasrallah said, adding that Hezbollah would use its arms only against Israelis.

'We will defeat you with our voices,' he said.

The speech seemed to be an attempt to prime the opposition for the massive demonstration that it plans to convene in central Beirut on Sunday.

In a statement published in yesterday's newspaper, the opposition called on its supporters to take part in 'a historic and decisive' demonstration that aimed to replace 'one-color government with a national unity government'  - Hezbollah parlance for a Cabinet in which it and its allies have a third of the seats.

Earlier yesterday, Siniora said he would stand firm and the Cabinet was 'constitutional and legitimate.'