Twin blow to political truce in Beirut

Damascus: Lebanon's fragile political truce appeared set to suffer a double blow on Monday and tensions rose over the expected indictment of Hezbollah members in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

The Lebanese cabinet has not been able to meet for more than two weeks due to disagreement on how to deal with the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is widely expected to implicate Hezbollah.

The group has said it will not hand over suspects UN names and asked the Lebanese government to boycott the court. Local media reports hinted at moves to overthrow the government led by Hariri's son Sa'ad.

Syria and Saudi Arabia have been working quietly to defuse the tension. Prince Abdul Aziz, son of Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz, travelled to Syria to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, a Lebanese newspaper said.

Postponement

Gulf News sources in Beirut confirm that a deal agreed by Riyadh and Damascus envisions that Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri back the postponement of the UN indictments and reject the indictments if issued in return for "a domestic truce" and Hezbollah's full backing of Hariri as prime minister and "sole leader of the Sunnis in Lebanon". "All talk about disarming Hezbollah would also be silenced under the proposed deal," the sources said.

These efforts have been complicated by the departure of King Abdullah to the US for medical treatment. He must approve any potential agreement.

A report released on Monday by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which contains confidential UN documents implicating Hezbollah in the Hariri assassination, has dealt another blow to the peace move.

It says the UN investigators have concluded that a group connected to Hezbollah coordinated the attack and that Colonel Wissam Al Hassan, a police chief and key Hariri adviser, was being considered as a key suspect in the murder.

Qatar's Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Al Thani arrived in Beirut on a surprise visit, diplomatic sources told AFP.