A Hizbollah leader has set Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition a mid-November deadline to agree to form a national unity government.

A Hizbollah leader has set Lebanon's anti-Syrian coalition a mid-November deadline to agree to form a national unity government.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says if this does not occur there will be protests demanding new elections.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has called for round-table talks next week between feuding political leaders to defuse a crisis threatening the country's stability.

Berri, a Shi'ite Muslim leader allied with Hizbollah, said the talks would discuss demands for a change of government and a new election law.

Hizbollah and its allies have been demanding a new government since a 34-day war between Israel and the Shi'ite guerrillas ended in August.

"If the consultations, dialogue and political efforts did not lead to a national unity government and these (opposition) forces are forced to take to the streets then... the goal of the protests, strikes and sit-ins... should be calling for early elections," Nasrallah told Hizbollah's television station.

He said Hizbollah and its allies should have at least a third of the cabinet. The group, and Berri's Amal faction, currently have five ministers in the 24-member government.

A third of votes in the government can block the passage of decisions in any cabinet vote.

Hizbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, has been a fierce critic of Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, whom it sees as keen to disarm its guerrillas.

Nasrallah said some leaders of the anti-Syrian coalition had demanded that his group lay down its weapons at the start of the war with Israel and agree to the deployment of a multi-national force across Lebanon.

The war was ended by a UN resolution that ordered the deployment of a beefed-up UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon alongside thousands of Lebanese army troops.

Next week's talks are widely seen as the last chance to avert a showdown on the streets and threaten Lebanon's stability.

"If the week (of meetings) ends without positive results... then the zero hour (for the protests) would come," Nasrallah said.

Anti-Syrian coalition members which dominate Siniora's government had dismissed the call for a national unity government, saying such demands were aimed at boosting Syria's influence in Lebanon again.

They had been reluctant to attend next week's talks and have threatened to call counter protests if the pro-Syrians take to the streets, raising fears of clashes.

Syria ended three decades of military dominance of Lebanon last year weeks after the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri.

Many Lebanese blamed it for the murder and an ongoing UN investigation has pointed the finger at Syrian security officials and their Lebanese allies