Lebanon's parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri voiced Friday his rejection to any attempts to escalate the nation's crisis situation.

In an interview published by local An Nahar newspaper on Friday, Berri said that the current crisis in Lebanon was caused by the pro-government parliamentary majority, expressing his concern over the ongoing unrest.

The decreased number of protestors during recent anti- government gatherings was purposely done to avoid complicating matters, he said, expecting "matters to be more difficult over the next few days if problems persisted between the government and opposition."

Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah, also expressed his support for the international tribunal to prosecute the killers of former Premier Rafik Hariri and its chief judge Serge Brammertz.

Lebanese sectarian tension began to escalate in November, 2006, when six pro-Syrian ministers resigned after Prime Minister Fouad Seniora and the anti-Syrian majority in the parliament rejected the opposition's demand for a new national unity government.

The opposition alliance, led by Hezbollah, has been camping out in central Beirut since Dec.1, calling for the resignation of the Seniora government.

However, the anti-Syrian ruling parliamentary majority has accused the opposition of doing Damascus and Tehran's bidding and seeking to undermine the formation of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Hariri and related crimes.

Source: Xinhua