Hezbollah-backed Mikati set to lead Lebanon govt

BEIRUT: Hezbollah and its allies won support on Monday to nominate their candidate for Lebanon's prime minister, giving them the upper hand in attempts to form a government and sparking accusations of a pro-Iranian coup.

Najib Mikati, backed by a Hezbollah-led coalition, looked set to be asked to form a government after the first of two days of consultations among Lebanese politicians.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, whose government collapsed earlier this month, said he and his group would not serve in an administration dominated by Hezbollah, and Hariri supporters in north Lebanon called for a "day of anger."

Hariri supporters protested in several cities on Monday, blocking streets in Tripoli, burning tires to cut the main north-south highway outside the southern town of Sidon, and demonstrating in Beirut before they were dispersed by security forces. The road to Syria through the Bekaa Valley was also cut.

The United States, which has designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization, said a big role for the group could complicate Washington's ties with Lebanon and affect U.S. aid. Hezbollah says the United States sabotaged earlier mediation talks between Hariri and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah and its allies walked out of Hariri's unity government on January 12 in a dispute over still confidential indictments by a U.N.-backed tribunal investigating the 2005 killing of statesman Rafik al-Hariri, the prime minister's father.