Lebanon: Hariri holds on despite Hezbollah pressure

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Saad al-Hariri will seek to form a new government next week, defying Hezbollah pressure to step down.

"They came back with only one demand: it is not acceptable that Hariri return to the government," he said yesterday.

"They have put aside all solutions and demanded Hariri be excluded… we will go to constitutional talks on Monday with me as a candidate," he said.

Mr Hariri's move is expected to anger Hezbollah and its allies, who brought down his government last week after he rejected their call to repudiate a UN-backed tribunal into 2005 car bomb killing of his father, Rafik, set to implicate Hezbollah.

"We have said Hariri should not come back," said Michel Aoun, a Christian leader allied to Hezbollah.

President Michel Sulieman is consulting with parliamentarians before asking anyone to form a new government.