Lebanese head for crisis talks in Qatar

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders head for Qatar onFriday aiming to end a protracted political conflict thatpushed the country to the brink of a new civil war.

Leaders of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition and theHezbollah-led opposition will try to forge a deal to end thestandoff which has paralysed government for 18 months and leftLebanon without a president since November.

An Arab League mediation mission sealed an agreement onThursday which ended fighting between ruling coalitionsupporters and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria.

As part of the deal, the sides agreed to meet in Doha.Political sources said on Friday that substantial talks in theQatari capital were unlikely to start before Saturday.

Syria, which Washington blamed in part for the crisis, saidit supported the Qatari-led initiative.

"This step could be a real chance to save Lebanon from thedangers that threaten it," Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualemtold the Lebanese as-Safir newspaper. "We are absolutely withthe initiative."

Hezbollah, a Shi'ite military and political group, hadrouted its opponents in battles that killed 81 and inflamedsectarian tensions with Sunni and Druze followers of thegoverning coalition.

Hezbollah's military gains -- a blow to the United States,Saudi Arabia and other backers of the governing coalition --have forced the government to rescind two decisions which thegroup had said amounted to a declaration of war.

The ruling coalition also appears to have dropped itsdemands that the election of a new president precedediscussions on a new cabinet and a new parliamentary electionlaw -- the two main issues on the agenda of the Qatar talks.

OPPOSITION DEMANDS

"The atmosphere is excellent and we will put our effortsinto reaching a solution which is in the interest of allLebanese," Parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition leaderallied to Syria, told as-Safir.

The opposition has demanded more say in a cabinetcontrolled by factions opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon.

The anti-Damascus factions have long accused the oppositionof seeking to restore Syrian domination that was brought to anend in 2005. International pressure that year forced Syria towithdraw troops from the country after the assassination offormer Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.

The ruling coalition's refusal to yield to the opposition'sdemand for veto power in cabinet triggered the resignation ofall its Shi'ite ministers in November 2006. Lebanon was plungedinto its worst political crisis since the civil war.

A deal would lead to the election of army commander GeneralMichel Suleiman as president. Both sides have long accepted hisnomination for a post reserved for a Maronite Christian inLebanon's sectarian power-sharing system.

Under a deal, the opposition would also remove a protestencampment that has closed off central Beirut since December,2006.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)