Arab League to invite Lebanese for talks in Qatar

By Laila Bassam

BEIRUT (Reuters) - A high-level Arab League delegation starts a mediation mission to Beirut on Wednesday to try to pull the country back from the brink of a new civil war.

Arab foreign ministers had agreed to send the mission, to be led by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani and Arab League chief Amr Moussa, after Iranian-backed Hezbollah briefly seized control of the Muslim part of the capital before handing it over to the army last week.

A senior Lebanese political source said the delegation was expected to invite rival leaders to roundtable talks in Qatar later this week if it managed to ease tensions in Beirut.

"The Arab League mission opens a window for a solution," the source said. "It has specific steps that raise hopes of a compromise deal."

Hezbollah's fighters routed supporters of the U.S.-backed government in six days of fighting that erupted on May 7, after the cabinet banned Hezbollah's communications network and fired Beirut airport's security chief, who is close to the Shi'ite group.

The fighting quickly took sectarian tones raising concerns Lebanon was edging towards civil strife. At least 81 people have died in the fighting, the worst since the 1975-90 civil war.

The Lebanese source said the Arab delegation would propose that the government annul the two measures and the Hezbollah-led opposition would lift all roadblocks from Beirut and reopen Beirut's airport. Once these steps are agreed the rivals would be asked to travel to Qatar.

In a sign that such a deal could be in the works, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called his beleaguered cabinet for a meeting later on Wednesday.

Lebanon's Sunni Muslim leader Saad al-Hariri pledged on Tuesday there would be no political surrender to what he called an attempt by Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers to impose their will on the nation by force.

But he welcomed the Arab mediation and left the door open for a compromise.

"I hope that with the Arab delegation we will find a solution," Hariri told a news conference. "We have reached the point of sectarian strife and everyone must compromise."

CORE ISSUES

The Arab delegation will hold talks in Beirut with top officials from both sides.

The source said any dialogue between rival leaders would focus on the core problems -- electing army commander General Michel Suleiman president, a national unity government and a new election law.

On Tuesday, Lebanon experienced its calmest day since violence broke out on May 7. Lebanon's army earlier stepped up patrols as part of a drive to restore order after a week of fighting in which Hezbollah and its allies triumphed.