Lebanese leaders to resume talks on Hezbollah arms

Lebanese leaders are due to resume roundtable talks on Thursday aimed at resolving the thorny issue of pro-Syrian Shiite group Hezbollah's right to keep its weapons.
Leaders from across the political spectrum will continue discussions on the last item on the agenda of the national dialogue launched early March: a defence strategy for Lebanon in the face of a potential threat from Israel.
Members of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority maintain that any defence strategy should keep decisions to "protect Lebanon" in the hands of the state and regular army. But pro-Syrian groups, led by Hezbollah, have so far rejected UN Security Council demands to disarm and calls from within Lebanon to merge their fighters with the regular army.
Thursday's meeting comes after a heated public debate about Hezbollah's weapons.
Druze leader MP Walid Jumblatt, an influential figure of the anti-Syrian camp, recently insisted that the "defence of southern Lebanon should be the sole prerogative of the Lebanese state" and that Hezbollah fighters should be integrated within the ranks of the regular army.