Lebanon's opposition agrees to join Hariri govt

Lebanon's opposition has agreed to a proposed government line-up, Hezbollah said on Saturday, paving the way to the end of five months of tortuous negotiations following a June general election.

Hezbollah, which heads an alliance of parties supported by Syria and Iran, said in a statement that its leadership, including the head of the militant party Hassan Nasrallah, met late on Friday and agreed to join the national unity government proposed by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri.

"Those who took part in the meeting agreed to join a national unity government based on the agreements reached during negotiations," the statement said.

Hariri, who is backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia, was nominated as prime minister-designate after he led his anti-Syrian coalition to victory in parliamentary election in June.

He has spent more than four months trying to broker a deal with the opposition to join a unity cabinet. A warming of ties between the two sides' main backers Syria and Saudi Arabia in recent weeks helped ease the rift in Beirut and led eventually to the breakthrough.

Deal over cabinet seats

The rival factions had agreed in July on the broad division of seats in the new cabinet. But Hariri, son of assassinated statesman Rafik al-Hariri, had struggled to reach agreement with opposition politicians on the details.

At the heart of the dispute were the demands of Christian leader Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah. Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement holds more seats in parliament than any other Christian party.

The new 30-minister cabinet is set to include 15 ministers from Hariri's coalition, 10 from the opposition including two Hezbollah ministers, and five, including the key interior and defense portfolios, will be nominated by President Michel Suleiman.

Incumbents Ziad Baroud and Michel al-Murr, loyal to the president, are set to keep their interior and defense portfolios, while new foreign and finance ministers are expected to be named.

Hariri had named Raya Hassan for finance minister, responsible for managing Lebanon's massive public debt burden, in an earlier proposal that was rejected by the opposition.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, the main Shiite Muslim ally of Hezbollah, is set to name the new foreign minister, political sources said.