BEIRUT: Future Movement MP Ahmad Fatfat said Hezbollah will do its best to protect the current government from collapsing, adding that the prime minister cannot resign without the approval of Syria and the resistance.

“Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah will do its best to preserve the government ... Hezbollah is well aware that it needs good public relations,” Fatfat told Voice of Lebanon Radio Station in an interview aired Saturday.

“This government deceived the Western community into believing that it’s a liberal government and it will fund the court,” he added.

Talks of the possibility of government collapse emerged after Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he would resign if the government blocks funding for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, prompting nine ministers from the Free Patriotic Movement to boycott Friday’s Cabinet session in what they said was a protest at the government’s poor performance.

Fatfat, a staunch critic of both Hezbollah and the Mikati government, said the prime minister’s decision to resign is in the hands of Syria and Hezbollah.

“Prime Minister Mikati came to his post through a political decision taken by Syria and Hezbollah; therefore he can’t make the decision on his own to resign,” Fatfat said.

The head of the Future Movement, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose Cabinet collapsed in January after Hezbollah and FPM ministers resigned, has maintained that his ouster was decided by President Bashar Assad and Nasrallah.

Future Movement lawmakers, including Fatfat, have repeatedly described the current government as a “Hezbollah government,” and claimed that Mikati lacks any decision-making power.

“The prime minister is in an awkward position because so too is the Syrian president and his allies, which prevents him from being active,” Fatfat said.

Fatfat also touched upon events in Syria and whether instability in the neighboring country would have repercussions on Lebanon.

“Lebanon isn’t an isolated island, and it is linked geographically, politically and economically to Syria. So far, however, the effect of the Syrian crisis has had a limited affect domestically,” the MP said.

“We want to see Syria become a democracy, in order to defend Lebanon and its interests. This, however, remains up to the Syrian people,” he added.