News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Lebanese government and Hizbullah have agreed to meet to negotiate the election of Lebanese army chief Michel Suleiman as president, Qatari officials said Thursday. Qatar will mediate the talks, which will begin on Friday.

Lebanon has been without a president for several months due to disagreements between the pro-Syrian minority and anti-Syrian majority in Parliament. The conflict between the anti-Syrian government and Hizbullah deteriorated into violence last week after the government declared Hizbullah’s private communications network illegal and fired the head of airport security for allegedly working with the group. The government backed down after several days of fighting in which over 80 people were killed.