Lebanese leaders face hurdles at tense Qatar talks

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Grim-faced leaders entered the conference room at a hotel in Doha separately for talks chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani.

At a brief opening session on Friday night, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani urged government and opposition leaders to reach an agreement to end a political standoff that has paralysed the government for 18 months and left Lebanon without a president since November.

"It is only natural that tension prevails early in the talks," one delegate said. "But the ice will be broken as the talks go on."

On Thursday, Arab mediators reached a deal to end Lebanon's worst internal fighting in nearly two decades and create a framework for the talks hosted by Qatar.

The clashes killed 81 people and exacerbated sectarian tensions between Shi'ites loyal to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and Druze and Sunni followers of the U.S.-supported ruling coalition.

Distrust between the two sides has been running high for months and diplomats said the main challenge for the hosts was to rebuild confidence between the rivals who have some major obstacles to overcome.

"Chances of success and failure are 50-50. It is a very complex crisis and the hurdles are so big that it would require a huge effort to resolve," a Lebanese politician said.

Sheikh Hamad shuttled between the leaders on Friday night to get them to agree on an agenda and soften their positions.

The leaders are scheduled to discuss power sharing in a new government and the basis of an election law but the ruling coalition will demand that Hezbollah's weapons and ties with the state will be the first item on the agenda after the anti-Israel group turned its arms against its political rivals.

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