Lebanon talks break ice between rivals

BEIRUT, Nov 6 (Reuters) Rival Lebanese leaders agreed today to halt media campaigns against each other as an ice-breaker in talks to defuse a political crisis threatening to spill over into violence.

There was no breakthrough over Hezbollah's demands for a national unity government giving the guerrilla group's allies a bigger say in running the country, but talks with anti-Syrian majority leaders were due to continue throughout the week.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the Hezbollah-allied Amal movement and is convening the talks, said the atmosphere at the first session had been positive.

''The ice has been broken,'' he told reporters in the central Beirut parliament building after the meeting was adjourned. ''We have started by agreeing a media truce... to ease tensions.'' The political power struggle has intensified since Lebanon's devastating war with Israel. Hezbollah accuses the anti-Syrian coalition led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora of failing to back it during the war and supporting US-Israeli demands for the disarmament of its Shi'ite Muslim guerrillas.

Though the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Nations backed Berri's call for ''national consultations'', a political source close to the talks said the first session had shown just how deep divisions between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps really were.

While Syrian-backed Hezbollah and its allies pressed for a new government, the majority leaders called for replacing pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, he said.

The leaders will meet again tomorrow.

Washington last week accused Syria, Iran and Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah of working to topple the government led by Siniora.

Damascus and Tehran denied the charge but Hezbollah, popular among Shi'ite Muslims who comprise Lebanon's largest religious community, has given the anti-Syrian majority until mid-November to agree to a unity government giving its allies more say or face street protests demanding new elections.

Demonstrations and counter-demonstrations could degenerate into violence or instability that would cripple prospects for recovery from the war in July and August.

TIGHT SECURITY The leaders met amid tight security. Scores of Lebanese army soldiers and police cordoned off central Beirut around parliament blocking traffic and searching pedestrians.

Political sources said there were only faint hopes of a breakthrough but that talks would focus on a possible compromise to expand Siniora's government.

Hezbollah has called for the cabinet to include more opposition members after what it saw as its victory in the war.

Anti-Syrian leaders have said they were willing to consider including representatives of Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, a Hezbollah ally, to Siniora's Western-backed government.

However, they vehemently oppose forming a new government or giving their opponents one third of the seats in Siniora's cabinet, a proportion that would allow them to block motions or bring down the entire government by resigning.

Aoun, once an outspoken foe of Damascus, has allied with Hezbollah in opposing the policies of the anti-Syrian majority who kept him out of the government although he swept elections in the Christian heartland last year.

Hezbollah and Amal together have five ministers in Siniora's cabinet. Lahoud has one, while Aoun is not represented.

Reuters AKJ RN2150