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Lebanon’s Rival Groups Resume National Dialogue | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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.BEIRUT, (AP) – Lebanon’s rival political groups have resumed national reconciliation talks and Hezbollah’s weapons are a main topic on the agenda.

Leaders of more than a dozen factions are meeting at the presidential palace for Tuesday’s talks headed by President Michel Suleiman. The dialogue is part of a peace deal reached in Qatar in May 2008 that ended sectarian clashes and defused a crisis.

The factions have conducted similar dialogues every few months since. The last session was held before parliament elections in June.

But they have so far made no progress on a defense strategy that would eventually integrate Hezbollah’s weapons into the Lebanese regular armed forces.

The sides remain deeply at odds over the fate of the Islamic militant group’s arsenal.