Syrian-Saudi Package Reported to Resolve Lebanese Political Crisis--Package Includes Rejection of Indictment Against Any Lebanese Party--Full Implementation of Taif and Doha Accords (LEBANON-POLITICS‪)‬

As Lebanon's political crisis appeared to be stalemated in the first week of the new year, Lebanese presidential sources leaked information on Wednesday about a breakthrough in the Syrian-Saudi mediation efforts to resolve the dispute between the two rival political camps. Voice of Lebanon (VOL) Radio reported unnamed president sources as saying that Syrian and Saudi officials had succeeded in hammering out "the framework" of a settlement "that would do away once and for all with the issue of false witnesses," which has held up the work of the government and has "paralyzed" the state machine. The term "false witnesses" is used by the Hizbullah-led opposition to refer to those who allegedly misled the initial international investigation into the 2005 assassination of late Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. The Shiite Hizbullah and its allies in the government have insisted on boycotting cabinet meetings unless top priority is given to discussion of the issue, which is thought by President Michel Suleiman and his Prime Minister Saad Hariri to be "divisive."