Beirut, Sept 13 (ZEENEWS.COM) Hezbollah has called on Lebanon's government to resign, in its first public rally in Beirut since the war with Israel ended, and defiantly repeated a vow not to abandon its weapons as urged by the United Nations.
A blow to prospects for political unity in the wake of the devastating 34-day war, the demand came as the UN force tasked with monitoring a ceasefire continued to grow with the arrival of French tanks and other armour.
Hezbollah MP Ali Ammar told a rally in a Shiite southern suburb last night that "the forces of March 14 (the anti-Syrian coalition which leads the government) aligned themselves with the Israeli enemy from the start" of the conflict that ended on August 14.
"They planned the assassination of the resistance (Hezbollah's military wing) in collaboration with the Americans and the Israelis.
"The resistance will keep its weapons," he said repeatedly, rejecting the demands of the UN Security Council truce resolution which ended the conflict.
"This government must go," he said to chants of "government, resign" from the crowd.
Ammar called for the formation of a government of national unity embracing factions outside the current cabinet, including Christian Michel Aoun, a longtime Syrian opponent now in alliance with Hezbollah, and pro-Syrian Christian notables like former Mp Suleiman Franjieh.
Hezbollah itself forms part of the government, holding two of the 24 cabinet posts.