Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora on Tuesday vowed to keep his depleted government afloat and resist demands by Hezbollah and its allies that would amount to "tyranny of the minority."

Siniora, who has lost a quarter of his 24-member cabinet since Saturday, said he would pursue dialogue despite the collapse of all-party talks and Hezbollah threats of street protests to bring down the anti-Syrian majority government.

He told Reuters in an interview that the majority of the cabinet was ready to expand, but emphasized that he would not agree to demands by Hezbollah, backed by its Shi'ite Muslim ally Amal and Christian leader Michel Aoun, for more than a third of cabinet seats.

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"They will become able to paralyze the meetings of the cabinet of ministers ... and have the ability to topple the government," Siniora said at his office in downtown Beirut.

"In a democracy, this is not possible," he said, noting the majority his coalition commands in parliament. "The point that's being mentioned there is the tyranny of the minority, which by all democratic principles, does not stand."

Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah in comments published Tuesday called on his supporters not to shy from a new civil war. In a speech he gave on Monday before thousands in south Beirut Nasrallah said "some are trying to frighten us with this option [of a civil war] ... but I tell you - the weak are behind this scare campaign," he said.

In the comments published on the Lebanese Arab language daily A-Safir, the Hezbollah chief reassured that his organization would act to maintain stability in Lebanon.

"This country is our country, and we have sacrificed tens of thousands of fatalities, casualties, prisoners and mutilated individuals and our most prized possessions to protect it and its honor. We will not turn our backs on it and will uphold peace between the residents as well as stability."

In its latest political earthquake, all of the government's Shi'ite ministers, affiliated with the Hezbollah and Amal movements, resigned. By walking out the ministers caused the government to breach the Lebanese constitution, which requires that Shi'ite representatives be included in the cabinet.

In his speech, Nasrallah also said that a "clean government" would be established in Lebanon. According to the Hezbollah chief, "the current government will step down. We will have nothing to do with it once it resigns ... it has zero credibility."

Despite this crisis, however, the Lebanese government has made an historical decision to establish an international court to investigate the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

President Emil Lahoud, member of the pro-Syrian camp in the government, has said this decision is illegitimate.