KUWAIT CITY: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah charged in an interview published yesterday that the US was blocking efforts to form a national unity government in Lebanon.

"The US is preventing the formation of a national unity government in Lebanon. This is the core of the crisis," said the chief of the Shia militant movement in an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anbaa.

"The aim (of the US) is to strengthen the government of (Prime Minister) Fouad Siniora because in reality it is their government. It is the government of the US ambassador in Beirut," Nasrallah said.

The Hezbollah-led opposition has been campaigning to topple the Western-backed government of Siniora who has rejected their demands for a national unity government in which they would have veto power.

"The current government ... accepts all demands by the US administration without discussion. Any demand by the US is approved by the current government within 10 minutes," Nasrallah said.

"That’s why I called it the government of (US ambassador Jeffrey) Feltman. Whatever he asks for is given. All Lebanese know that Feltman visits the government headquarters daily or almost daily," he said.

The opposition is demanding a national unity government that should include 10 of their ministers and another approved by them to be able to block major decisions that require a two-thirds majority in an expanded 30-member cabinet.

The opposition pulled its six ministers out of the 24-member cabinet in November, including all five Shias, and has been staging a mass sit-in outside the government’s offices since December 1.

All mediation efforts between the rival camps have failed to ease the crisis, including a mission by Arab League chief Amr Moussa.

In remarks published yesterday, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said Lebanon is like a time bomb that could explode at any time if the political standoff is not resolved quickly.

Berri, a close ally of Syria and Hezbollah, indicated that the opposition protest campaign could get out of hand if there was no solution before the end of the month.

"I’m really scared ... I feel that there is a grave danger looming over the country and threatening its fate," Berri, a veteran Shia Muslim leader, told As-Safir newspaper.

"The top priority is to try to avert this danger. I’ll continue to sound the alarm and warn that we should reach a solution as quickly as possible and before the end of the month," he said.

"The country is like a ticking time bomb. Its detonation will lead to a catastrophe."

The opposition, which mainly groups Hezbollah, Berri’s Amal movement and a group led by Christian leader Michel Aoun, has vowed to escalate street protests in the run up to an international donors conference on Lebanon in Paris on January 25.

The opposition has criticised the government’s reform programme that would be presented at the conference, which includes tax hikes and privatisation plans.

Some opposition figures have called for large-scale protests to bring the country to a standstill through blocking off all key roads and highways and marching on government buildings and facilities.

Many fear such a scenario would trigger street clashes between supporters of the government and opposition.

l Siniora said yesterday that Kuwaiti leaders have assured him of continued support for Lebanon and promised new assistance at the aid conference.

"Kuwait will participate in providing aid to Lebanon through the (aid) conference along with other Arab and friendly countries," Siniora told reporters in Kuwait.

Siniora held talks with Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah and Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohamed al-Ahmed al-Sabah on the Lebanese crisis and mediation efforts, he said.

His visit to Kuwait is part of a regional tour ahead of the conference.

The Lebanese premier reiterated that the crisis between the government and the opposition should be resolved through dialogue.

Lebanese Finance Minister Jihad Azour also signed an agreement for two loans totalling $208mn with the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development.

The two soft loans will be used for reconstruction of south Lebanon which was devastated by last summer’s war between Israel and Hezbollah. – Agencies