Lebanese leaders make some progress at Qatar talks

By Nadim Ladki

DOHA (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders made progress on issues at the heart of their political crisis on Sunday but Qatari-mediated talks face major hurdles to a deal to pull Lebanon back from the brink of a new civil war.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani met with members of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition to try to end a crisis that has paralysed the government and left Lebanon with no president.

But delegates said Sheikh Hamad had yet to win final approval on one of the prickliest issues on the agenda -- the shape of a new government -- after making several proposals including one to split seats three ways equally among rivals.

A six-member committee created on Saturday to lay the framework for a new election law has made progress and was now working out the details of how to divide Beirut electorally.

The Lebanese capital is a stronghold of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition but its Sunni Muslim supporters have been on the defensive since Hezbollah briefly seized parts of the city in the worst internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Washington blames Syria and Iran for Hezbollah's offensive last week which forced the U.S-supported government to rescind two decisions that had triggered the escalation.

Officials from the governing coalition were demanding 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 weapons would be discussed soon, delegates said.

Arab mediators were now consulting on this point with regional power brokers including Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is a leading supporter of the ruling coalition, delegates said.