Lebanon has an opportunity for unity

A few months ago, Lebanon was on the verge of a civil war. Yesterday, the country's leaders began a crucial dialogue to decide the fate of the weapons of Hezbollah, the powerful group that was allowed to keep its arms at the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.

The meeting, which is expected to last several months, will also tackle other issues such as relations with Syria and perhaps the repeated calls to reform the entire political system.

But the 15 men, led by President Michel Sulaiman, are there mainly to draw a national defence strategy aimed at protecting Lebanon - obviously against the constant Israeli threat.

Hezbollah has been the sole defender of Lebanon's southern region. It drove the Israelis out of the area in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation. The group also rebuffed the Israeli attack in 2006, following which the Lebanese army was deployed in the south for the first time in 40 years.

But over the years, it has become larger than Lebanon. Its military arsenal is bigger and much more advanced than that of the national army.

Its social services network and community development projects dwarf those the state can offer its mainly Shiite citizens in the south, leading to fears among other communities that Hezbollah was creating its own separate state.

Therefore, the national dialogue is supposed to allay these fears and regulate the relationship between Hezbollah and the national army in the hopes that arms would one day be in the hands of the state. Sulaiman said yesterday that he wanted to see a strong army in which Hezbollah's capabilities could be absorbed. This in fact is the natural thing to do.

But it should be done gradually and peacefully and Hezbollah and its supporters should be assured of the security of the south. Lebanon has a good chance to walk out united from the current talks, in which Hezbollah has agreed to discuss the fate of its weapons. It is an opportunity that must not be wasted.