BEIRUT, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud refused on Saturday to endorse government plans for an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The planned court is a major bone of contention between the Western-backed government and the opposition, spearheaded by Hezbollah, which is staging a round-the-clock vigil in Beirut to try to oust Lebanon's anti-Syrian prime minister. Six pro-Syrian ministers, including five Shi'ite Muslims, quit the cabinet last month to press their demands for a government of national unity. The remaining ministers subsequently approved proposals for the tribunal, but Lahoud said in a statement on Saturday that the depleted cabinet was unconstitutional and therefore did not have the authority to pass the court project. "The president ... calls on the cabinet to reconsider (the plan) when there is a legitimate and constitutional government," a statement from his office said. The move had been widely expected and leaves the court project hanging in the balance. Hariri was killed by a massive truck bomb in February 2005 -- an assassination many government supporters blame on neighbouring Syria, a charge Damascus denies. Plans for the international tribunal were drafted by the United Nations and Beirut after Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Lebanon's judiciary could not handle the case alone. Siniora's allies say Hezbollah is trying to sink the government in order to scupper the tribunal. Shi'ite Hezbollah is supported by both Damascus and Tehran. The government is now expected to refer the court plans to parliament, where it has a Sunni-led majority, in a bid to bypass the president. However parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who is allied to Hezbollah, has indicated he will not convene parliament to debate the court. Hundreds of thousands of opposition protesters are expected to stage a mass rally in downtown Beirut on Sunday as part of their ongoing campaign to unseat Siniora. Commentators have warned that the increasingly acrimonious stand-off, which broadly speaking has pitted the Sunni Muslim community against Shi'ites, could degenerate into violence in a country that has suffered two civil wars in 50 years. (Additional reporting by Laila Bassam)
