A senior member of Hezbollah has said it will push ahead with plans to bring down the Lebanese government, despite the mass outpouring of grief at yesterday’s funeral of Pierre Gemayel.

The militant Shiite party, which is backed by Syria and Iran, said it had delayed street protests planned for this week because of the public reaction to Gemayel’s murder.

A Hezbollah Politburo member, Ghalib Abu Zaynab, speaking in the group’s southern Beirut stronghold, said: “As far as street protests are concerned, we have postponed these as we are waiting to see what will happen in the coming days. But the protests will go ahead, and we hope they will achieve our political aims within a month.”

He said tactics would include mass street demonstrations, strikes, and “other legal and peaceful means of achieving our goals. We gave blood for independence, but we want true independence, not influenced by outside parties, and this government is a puppet of the United States, run by Jeffrey Feltman,” who is the American ambassador to Lebanon.

Hezbollah had weakened the government even before Tuesday’s assassination of the anti-Syrian Christian leader. Earlier this month, six ministers either belonging or allied to Hezbollah resigned from the Cabinet. Mr. Gemayel’s murder means the death or resignation of two more would render the Cabinet inquorate.

The militia’s leadership has denied any involvement in Mr. Gemayel’s murder, suggesting it was the work of American or Israeli intelligence as part of a campaign to discredit both Syria and Hezbollah.

“The killing of Gemayel was neither good for Hezbollah, nor for Syria,” Mr. Zaynab said. “In the end, the people who benefit most are the United States and Israel. There are American fingerprints on all the bloodshed in the Middle East, in Iraq, in Palestine, and now also in Lebanon.”