BEIRUT: The government will not approve the financing of a U.N.-backed court and Prime Minister Najib Mikati is not likely to resign as the dispute over the payment of Lebanon’s share to the court’s funding escalates, threatening to throw the Cabinet into disarray, ministerial sources said Sunday.

In the meantime, Hezbollah, adamant in its staunch opposition to the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and a minister close to the party said that if no consensus was reached on the divisive issue of the STL, the matter should be put for a vote inside the Cabinet.

“So far, there has been no consensus on the issue of the court’s funding. We hope to reach an agreement on this issue. But if no agreement is reached, we will go for a vote in the Cabinet,” Minister of State Ali Qanso told The Daily Star.

Asked what would the result of the Cabinet vote be, Qanso said: “The result will be a vote against the court’s financing because the attitudes of the blocs are well known.”

Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, who oppose the STL altogether, let alone funding it, have a majority in Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet and can block any decision. Qanso belongs to the March 8 camp.

Asked whether Mikati, who has repeatedly promised to pay Lebanon’s $32 million share to the STL’s funding, would resign if the Cabinet majority opposed the court’s funding, Qanso said: “I don’t think Prime Minister Mikati will resign.”

A senior March 8 source said the STL’s funding will not be approved by the Cabinet and Mikati will not quit over the issue.

“Even if the government did not approve the payment of Lebanon’s share to the court’s funding, Lebanon will not be punished with sanctions,” the source told The Daily Star.

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary-general, Sheikh Naim Qassem, said the Cabinet should go ahead with a vote if it failed to reach agreement on the STL’s funding.

“Since this government has been formed by a parliamentary majority which has its own views and beliefs, it is only natural that its representatives do not agree on everything,” Qassem said during a student graduation ceremony in the village of Qsarnaba in the Bekaa region Sunday.

Apparently referring to the STL’s funding, Qassem said: “We have agreed to discuss everything freely inside the government. Each [party] has its own opinion and its position. But even in difficult and complicated matters, if we do not reach an agreement, there should be a vote inside the Cabinet. The majority can decide the direction and the others must comply.”

He added that the Cabinet voting will reflect commitment to the Lebanese ruling system in the formation of the Cabinet and its policy statement and also in deciding on divisive issues.

Qassem also praised Mikati’s government, saying that it has proved that it could communicate with both the East and West and as well as with Arabs and Persians.

“We are hearing today from [U.S. Secretary of State Hilary] Clinton and others that they want to see stability in Lebanon,” Qassem said.

Some opposition March 14 politicians have warned that the Mikati government, which is dominated by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, could be isolated by the West.

The remarks by Qanso and Qassem came as the Cabinet is set to begin discussing the 2012 draft state budget Tuesday. The draft budget includes allocations to pay Lebanon’s over $30 million share to the funding of the STL which is trying to uncover the perpetrators of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Qanso said Tuesday’s ministerial session will not touch on the issue of the STL’s funding.

“The budget discussions will take weeks. We have time until the end of the year,” he said.

Despite Hezbollah’s opposition, Mikati appears to be determined to support the STL’s funding, warning that Lebanon’s failure to comply with U.N. resolutions will serve Israel.

Mikati was apparently referring to the possibility of U.N. sanctions on Lebanon if it failed to comply with U.N. resolutions, particularly Resolution 1757 which established the STL. The resolution calls on Lebanon to pay nearly half of the STL’s annual $65 million.

Mikati reiterated Lebanon’s commitment to U.N. resolutions, including the STL, during a dinner he hosted for visiting Irish President Mary McAleese at the Grand Serail Saturday.

“Lebanon, which is proud of being one of the founders of the United Nations, is committed to U.N. resolutions, particularly Resolution 1701,” he said, referring to the resolution that ended the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon.

But opposition March 14 politicians expressed skepticism about Mikati’s ability to honor his promise to pay Lebanon’s share to the STL’s funding.

“So far, there are no positive indications or signs of a solution to this problem [STL’s funding]. There are parties whose position is extremely negative and they do not want justice in Lebanon to take its course,” Kataeb (Phalange) Party leader Amin Gemayel told reporters in Cairo.

MP Ahmad Fatfat from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc told a rally in the northern district of Minieh: “I don’t think at all that this government will finance the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, even though I wish I am wrong. But it is clear that there is a decision from Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah not to finance the tribunal.”

Fatfat also ruled out Mikati’s resignation if Lebanon did not pay its share to the court’s funding.

A spokesperson for the STL warned last week that Lebanon may be referred to the U.N. Security Council if it fails to meet the 30-day deadline for paying its share for the court.

The spokesperson for the STL, talking after STL Registrar Herman von Hebel’s announcement that Lebanon must pay 49 percent of the tribunal’s running costs, said new president Sir David Baragwanath may choose to report the Lebanese government to New York if it proves uncooperative.