Rival Lebanese leaders made progress towards ending their political crisis today but disagreements over Hezbollah's weapons remained a major hurdle to a Qatari-mediated deal.
HeQatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, weighed in on the third day of talks, meeting separately with members of the US-backed ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition to try to bridge differences that have crippled government, left Lebanon with no president and brought it close to civil war. Delegates said the differences were slowly narrowing over the two key issues on the agenda - the new election law and power-sharing in the government.
But talks may yet stumble over a demand from the governing coalition for clear guarantees that Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, would not turn its guns on them again and that the fate of its arms would be debated in Lebanon soon.
Arab mediators clinched a deal on Thursday to end Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war, in which Hezbollah routed supporters of the US-backed government and briefly seized parts of Beirut.
At least 81 people were killed in the violence, which exacerbated sectarian tensions between Shi'ites loyal to Hezbollah and Druze and Sunni followers of the ruling coalition.
The fate of Hezbollah's weapons is not on the agenda of the Doha talks but delegates said Arab mediators were consulting on the issue with regional power brokers including Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is a leading supporter of the ruling coalition.
"This issue is not under discussion and is not up for discussion on the table of dialogue in Doha," said Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan. "They are trying to raise this issue for their own private calculations which are mistaken anyway."
Washington blames Syria and Iran for Hezbollah's offensive last week which forced theUS-supported government to rescind two decisions that had triggered the escalation.
US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the Doha talks should aim to curb Hezbollah and bolster the government.
"This can lead to an end to the political stalemate, but only if it does not reward Hezbollah, and if it supports the elected government..." he said.
"It is an opportunity for the Lebanese forces of democracy and freedom, and for those in the region that support it, to hold Hezbollah to account and hopefully to clip its wings a little bit."