BEIRUT (Agencies)
Arab mediators announced on Thursday a deal to defuse the latest crisis that pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war, with rival parties agreeing to relaunch dialogue and the Hezbollah-led opposition ending a civil disobedience campaign against the Beirut government.
Under a six-point plan, the rival parties agreed to go to Qatar on Friday to relaunch a national dialogue to try to elect a president and form a national unity government.
They also agreed to refrain from using weapons to further their political agenda, to refrain from using hateful language that could incite violence and to return to the situation before deadly sectarian clashes erupted last week.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani announced the deal at a news conference in Beirut.
"The opposition has decided to end the civil disobedience (campaign) and open all roads and routes to the seaport and airport," opposition member of parliament Ali Hassan Khalil told Reuters.
Ahead of the announcement of the deal, Hezbollah militants began removing roadblocks on the highway leading to Beirut's international airport, an AFP correspondent said.
A Middle East Airlines plane was set to arrive at the airport in the early evening, the first commercial flight since incoming and outgoing flights were suspended a week ago.
Lebanon's only international airport had effectively been shut down since last Thursday because of the worst sectarian unrest to grip the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
The violence, which left 65 people dead and 200 wounded, was sparked by a government crackdown on the Shiite group Hezbollah, whose militants blocked the highway leading to the airport.
Arab leaders have been scrambling to end the standoff between the Western-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition, a dispute regarded as part of a wider conflict between US regional allies and its foes in Syria and Iran.
Hopes of a were raised after the government, in a major climbdown, cancelled controversial measures against Hezbollah that had triggered the latest crisis.
On Wednesday, the government rescinded plans to probe a private Hezbollah communications network and reassign the head of airport security over allegations he was close to the powerful Shiite militant group, moves Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah branded a declaration of war.
Osama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said the climbdown set a "dangerous precedent," adding: "This means that in the future the opposition could resort to the same violence or threaten to do so.
"The government has been weakened to irrelevance by actions on the street," he added. "It is fast becoming lame duck."
The Lebanese parliament is scheduled to convene on June 10 for what will be its 20th attempt to elect a president to replace Damascus protege Emile Lahoud who stepped down at the end of his term of office in November.
The government and the opposition have agreed with an Arab League initiative that calls for the election of army chief Michel Suleiman as head of state. But they remain at odds over the details of a proposed government of national unity and a new law for parliamentary polls due next year. |
