Hezbollah sees deadlock, Lebanon crisis continuing

By Nadim Ladki

BEIRUT, April 8 (Reuters) - Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah has given up hope of reaching a compromise deal with Lebanon's Western-backed majority coalition to end the country's political crisis, the group's leader said on Sunday.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah would not be dragged into civil war despite the failure of last month's Saudi-backed talks between the majority and the opposition to resolve the five-month-old standoff.

"The dialogue is deadlocked. What do we do?," Nasrallah said at a Hezbollah ceremony in Beirut's southern suburbs.

"We don't want a civil war. If the stalemate continues for a while until a solution is found or we go to a civil war, then let the stalemate continue."

Nasrallah said Hezbollah no longer demanded veto power in Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government but the only way out of the crisis was through a referendum to resolve the deadlock or early elections -- a proposal Siniora and his allies have already rejected.

Otherwise, he said, he and his opposition allies were willing to bide their time until circumstances become ripe for a solution or regular elections are held in 2009.

Lebanon is facing its worst crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Opposition ministers, including all Shi'ites, resigned from government in November because of Siniora's refusal to give them 11 seats in the 30-member cabinet and effectively hand veto power to his opponents.

"We in the opposition became like beggars ... I don't want this 19-11 (formula) anymore," Nasrallah said, closing the door for any negotiations with the majority.



WILL OF THE PEOPLE

"Today, the courageous decision is to return to the will of the Lebanese people," Nasrallah said.

Sectarian violence has killed 10 people since the opposition took to the streets shortly after the resignations, raising fears of bloody Sunni-Shi'ite strife.

Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, is the most powerful group in the opposition. The majority is led by Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri, son of late Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, who was assassinated in 2005.

Nasrallah slammed the anti-Syrian majority for asking the U.N. Security Council to set up an international court to try suspects in the killing of Rafik al-Hariri despite opposition demands that its laws be amended and passed by parliament.

The majority, which accuse the opposition of trying to thwart the tribunal's establishment to protect its allies in the Syrian government, has demanded a session of parliament so lawmakers can vote on the tribunal draft.

But Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri -- a Hezbollah ally -- has yet to convene the chamber. He says he will not call it to debate the tribunal until President Emile Lahoud, also a Syrian ally, has signed the draft and a new government is formed.

Majority leaders accuse Damascus of the 2005 killing and a string of other attacks on anti-Syrian figures that are all being probed by a U.N. investigation. Syria denies involvement.