BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanese political leaders meeting to quell bitter internal disputes reached an accord Tuesday on normalising fraught relations with Syria, parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri said.

But Berri said two key issues remained unresolved -- the political future of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and disarmament of Shiite fundamentalist movement Hezbollah -- and that negotiations would resume on March 22.

Besides agreement on Syria, Berri said all 14 participants agreed on "not allowing any armed Palestinian presence outside (refugee) camps and on the "Lebanese" character of the Shebaa Farms, a hotly contested border area currently occupied by Israel.

The anti-Syrian majority in parliament has repeatedly called for the embattled Lahoud to step down since the killing in February 2005 of his political rival and former premier Rafiq Hariri in a bomb blast blamed on Damascus.

On Hezbollah, Berri said: "The resistance will keep its weapons until the liberation of every inch of Lebanese territory."

Pro- and anti-Syrian politicians at the talks agreed on the necessity of developing relations with Syria and of "correcting the errors of the past", Berri said, without elaborating.

"Participants don't want Syria to be a threat to Lebanon's security and vice-versa. They... demand the application of the principle of mutual non-interference in internal affairs," he said.

A participant who requested anonymity said the agreement was based on the 1989 Taef accords that ended Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war "which stipulates the establishment of normal and healthy relations" between the two neighbours.

"Participants want relations between Lebanon and Syria to be as equals, based on the establishment of diplomatic relations and embassies and demarcating Lebanese-Syrian frontiers," Berri said.

The forging of diplomatic ties with longtime powerbroker Syria, which withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005, would mark a significant turning point.

The pullout, after a 29-year presence, was also based on the Taef accords and followed international outcry over alleged Syrian involvement in the assassination of Hariri.

On the Shebaa farms, occupied by Israel in 1967, Berri said participants wanted "a government action towards the United Nations" to finalise the territory's status.

He said participants also supported "the government's decision to disarm Palestinians outside the camps in six months" time in accordance "with the State re-establishing its authority on all Lebanese territory".

A September 2004 Security Council Resolution calls on Lebanon to assert sovereignty on all its territories and disarm all militias, including armed Palestinian factions and the armed wing of Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, which joined government for the first time last year, has refused to take part in cabinet meetings since December amid disagreement over its armed future.

The closed-door conference resumed Monday after breaking off last week when Druze leader and anti-Syrian MP Walid Jumblatt traveled to Washington where he renewed his call for Lahoud's resignation and the disarmament of Hezbollah, whose fighters exclusively patrol the former Israeli-occupied south.

But Syria's official Tishrin newspaper called for the talks to exclude "suspect subjects" which serve US interests, such as Hezbollah's disarmament and the finalising of borders.

"The dialogue is a precious occasion to save Lebanon. We must reject suspect subjects ... which don't interest the Lebanese and which have been imposed from outside," said the paper.

Discussion of Shebaa Farms and Hezbollah's disarmament "serves the purposes of (Washington's) Greater Middle East plan (to democratise the region), because no reasonable man accepts giving up a territory or the weapons that protect him for nothing." it said.

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