Geagea urges Lebanon army to foil opposition plans

BEIRUT, Jan 21 (Reuters) A Lebanese pro-government Christian leader today called on the security forces to prevent any opposition attempt to paralyse the country by blocking off vital roads and facilities.

The opposition, which includes the Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah and Amal factions and Christian leader Michel Aoun, has called a general strike for Tuesday, two days before an aid conference in Paris.

''What is being prepared is more blocking roads than a general strike,'' Samir Geagea, a leader of the anti-Syrian majority coalition, told Reuters by telephone.

''The plan is that early on Tuesday ... they will find a way to take to the main roads, intersections and roundabouts in the country and until the security forces go and remove them ...

they would have forced people not to go to work and thus they would have forced and imposed a general strike,'' he said.

Sources in the opposition, which has been demanding veto power in the government and early parliamentary elections, say Tuesday would be only the start of the escalation against the government and did not rule out organising mass protests.

Leaders from the majority coalition have urged people to go to work as usual on Tuesday, but Geagea said they would not ask their supporters to face protesters on the streets.

''We demand that the army and other security forces secure enough presence on key roads and intersections from Monday night so that no one would be able to close roads,'' Geagea said.

''The citizen who wants to go to work on Tuesday should have the right to do so and this right should be preserved.'' The Lebanese army, whose command has remained neutral in the political standoff, has in the past said it would not allow any disruption of key facilities and roads but it is seen unlikely to use force against protesters from either side.

''NO HORIZON'' Geagea said Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government would not ''assassinate itself'' by bowing to the opposition's demands.

''There is no political horizon for the opposition's campaign,'' he said, adding that more opposition ministers could join the cabinet, but not enough to block key decisions.

Hezbollah deputy chief, Sheikh Naim Kassem, vowed in remarks broadcast on Sunday that the opposition would not back down.

''The opposition's campaign will be powerful, big and effective. More importantly, we will not leave the street until our goals are achieved,'' Kassem said.

The opposition has been camped outside Siniora's offices in central Beirut since December 1 to press its demands for a decisive say in a government that Hezbollah says is run by Washington.

Geagea urged anti-Syrian ministers and lawmakers to take extra security precautions, reiterating that he feared more political assassinations in Lebanon to further opposition goals.

''They are targeted as part of the same game. This is the other side of the sit-ins and protests,'' he said.

Six anti-Syrian politicians and journalists have been killed in Lebanon in the past two years, including former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The anti-Syrian coalition has blamed Syria for the assassinations. Damascus denies any links.

Syrian troops were forced out of Lebanon in 2005 by international pressure and mass protests triggered by Hariri's killing. A U N commission is investigating the attacks.

REUTERS LL B2108