Lebanon's pro-Syrian president invited anti-Syrian opposition and loyalist politicians to begin immediate talks on Saturday, hours after a bomb raised fresh fears of a return to the country's violent past. Investigators sifted through the rubble left by the blast, which wounded 11 people and gutted the ground and first floors of a residential block in a Christian suburb of eastern Beirut.
Security sources said the bomb had been left in or under a car belonging to a Lebanese-Armenian man who lived in the building, but it was not clear why.
The attack comes amid acute political tension since the February 14 killing by bomb of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, prompting President Emile Lahoud's first personal initiative to break the deadlock over Syria's influence in its tiny neighbour.
"The president affirms the need for such a dialogue meeting starting today in any place they agree on, including the presidential palace, which will keep its doors open," Lahoud said in a statement, citing "exceptional circumstances".
Lahoud also cancelled plans to attend Monday's Arab Summit in Algeria, saying the turmoil in Lebanon required him to stay.
Syria has already bowed to international demands it withdraw troops from Lebanon, after Hariri's death prompted hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to protest against the Syrians and accuse them of responsibility for the killing.
Syria denies the charge but has begun withdrawing the troops it poured into Lebanon early in the 1975-1990 civil war.
A key opposition leader responded to Lahoud's overture by renewing calls for him to resign.
"If a new president is not chosen ... the future might be unknown," Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt told followers.
Jumblatt stopped short of rejecting Lahoud's invitation outright, but has already said opposition figures will not join a new government unless the president steps down first.
That stance threatens efforts to set up a national unity government led by pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami, who resigned on February 28 under opposition pressure but was reappointed by parliament last week.
The opposition wants a neutral cabinet to lead Lebanon to elections, due in May but threatened with delay if the deadlock lasts, and an international probe into Hariri's killing, which Jumblatt has accused Lebanese authorities of trying to cover up.
On Saturday morning, dazed residents inspected bomb damage to their homes, shops and cars, sweeping up shards of glass and debris that littered the New Jdeideh area.
The explosion shortly after midnight blew out balconies, shattered windows in surrounding buildings and gouged a crater out of an adjacent car park.