BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun warned Sunday that any attempt to replace or dismiss Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas would lead to the downfall of the already divided Cabinet.

“Charbel Nahhas is part of a bloc. If Charbel Nahhas is touched, the entire Cabinet will be brought down,” Aoun said in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV. He said that if Nahhas – one of 10 ministers in Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc – had made mistakes, it would not have been accepted. “We abide by laws,” said Aoun.

Aoun accused President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati of teaming up in Cabinet to confront his ministers’ plans. “The president is playing the ministers’ role in supporting the prime minister. There is a diabolical alliance between Sleiman and Mikati to stand against us,” Aoun said.

He described the campaign launched against Nahhas as “fabrications.”

Aoun was apparently responding to Sleiman, who said that Nahhas must sign the transportation allowance decree, otherwise he would be replaced.

Mikati – who suspended the Cabinet’s sessions on Feb. 1 following sharp differences with ministers from Aoun’s bloc over the thorny issue of civil service appointments – signaled that if Nahhas signed the transportation allowance decree it could lead to the resumption of the sessions.

Nahhas – who has refused to sign the decree arguing that it should be made legal first by Parliament – hit back at Sleiman. “I will not sign [the decree] even if 29 ministers agree to dismiss me. Anyone who can dismiss me, let him try,” Nahhas said Saturday.