Lebanese President Announces National Dialogue Participants

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman on Sunday announced a list of participants in a new round of national dialogue aimed at reaching a national defense strategy to find a solution to the weapons of the Shiite armed group Hezbollah.

The new list that took into consideration the results of the 2009 June parliamentary elections includes 19 Muslim and Christian politicians representing the major blocs in the parliament.

The previous list included 14 politicians. More politicians were added to the next session, while a number of previous participants were excluded.

The president's office said in a statement that Suleiman will call on the group to meet in the presidential palace near Beirut on a date that will be disclosed at a later stage.

According to the statement, the list includes Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, former President Amin Gemayel, Change and Reform bloc leader lawmaker Michel Aoun, former Prime Minister Fouad Seniora, head of Hezbollah parliamentary bloc Mohammad Raad, and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, and 12 other major politicians from different sects.

Lebanese national dialogue sessions have been held for seven rounds, but nothing have been solved so far.

Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction which keeps its heavy arms, under the pretext of resisting Israel. The group has vowed to keep its arms as long as Israel poses a threat in the region.

The first round of the national dialogue was held in September 2008 in line with the Doha accord signed by rival Lebanese leaders on May 21 in Qatar, which put an end to a 18-month-long political standoff that dragged the country to the brink of civil war.

The Doha accord was reached following a week of fierce clashes in Beirut between pro-government supporters and the Hezbollah-led opposition.

The latest national dialogue session was held on June 1, 2009, ahead of the parliamentary elections, in which the West- and Saudi- backed March 14 alliance won the majority over the Iran- and Syria- backed, Hezbollah-dominant March 8 alliance.

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