BEIRUT - Lebanese cabinet ministers are set to meet again on Thursday to try to reach accord on a policy statement that will allow government to take office, after a twelfth attempt failed on Wednesday.

A new national unity cabinet was formed two weeks ago but negotiations on a manifesto have been hampered by disputes on the issue of weapons held by Hezbollah, the powerful Shiite Muslim political movement and militia.

Ministers met on Wednesday for the twelfth time but again failed to reach agreement, with Information Minister Tarek Mitri saying the discussions revolved around the phrasing of the document.

"Hopefully I will read a statement to you that is as clear as sunshine," Mitri said adding that the committee would meet again on Thursday.

The government will take office only after a parliamentary vote of confidence on the policy statement.

The cabinet, in which the Hezbollah-led opposition has the right of veto, was formed on July 11 after weeks of bickering despite a May power-sharing agreement struck in Qatar that ended a protracted political dispute.

"The socio-economic issues have been settled, the stumbling block is the issue of Hezbollah's weapons," said a member of the ministerial drafting committee that was meeting on the policy statement.

The Hezbollah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, insists on the "right to resist" Israel, while the ruling bloc, supported by the West and most Arab states, insists that only the state can make decisions of war and peace.

"No single party has a monopoly on the right (to resist), or imposing its own methods and choices without taking into account the principle of preserving the state," Prime Minister Fuad Siniora said in a statement.

The controversy over Hezbollah's weapons intensified after its guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that sparked a devastating 34-day war in Lebanon.

The issue boiled to the surface again when Hezbollah led an armed takeover of large swathes of predominantly Sunni west Beirut in fierce fighting in May that left 65 people dead and sparked fears of a return to all-out civil war.

"The situation has become more dangerous because the weapons were used domestically in clashes between Lebanese," majority MP Elias Atallah told AFP.

But Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, remains adamant it will not give up its weapons.

"We have not made any concessions on the resistance in the past and we will not under any pretext do so in the future," said Hashem Saifeddin, the head of Hezbollah's executive council.

Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said he expected the policy manifesto would only be agreed once Hezbollah gets its way.

"They are going to have to find a way to accommodate Hezbollah whether they like it or not... Hezbollah feels triumphant. It feels victorious and it will get what it wants," he said.

The Western-backed parliamentary majority has 16 cabinet seats, and the opposition 11, including the post of labour minister held by a Hezbollah MP, while three are held by people nominated by President Michel Sleiman was allocated three seats, considered to be "neutral". -AFP