BEIRUT, Lebanon - Lebanon was pinning its hopes Thursday on an Arab solution aimed at ending two weeks of Hezbollah-led street protests against the government and a political crisis that has divided the nation.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said that he was optimistic after several days of mediation between the Western-backed government and opposition figures who have threatened to install their own interim government unless they gain a greater say in running the nation's affairs.

"A step forward has been made," Moussa told reporters, referring to the formation of a new unity cabinet that the opposition, led by the Syria-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah, hopes will give it a one-third blocking minority.

"Bridges have been built between the parties but there are still differences," Moussa said after talks with pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, adding that he expected to make an announcement later Thursday.

However, MP Antoine Andraos from the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority said that he was "rather pessimistic" about the likelihood of a resolution.

"Behind all of this, it is Syria which is refusing the creation of an international tribunal" into the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, he said. "For us the question of a tribunal is at the heart of any agreement, and there is no question of backing away on this point," he said.

The anti-Syrian majority accuses the mainly Shiite and Christian opposition of aiming to block a UN-proposed tribunal on the Hariri slaying after a UN probe implicated Syrian leaders and their Lebanese accomplices.

This week the rump cabinet left in place after six pro-Syrian ministers resigned last month, sent to parliament its approval of the UN draft on creating the court, which must now be voted on by parliament.

However, pro-Syrian parliament speaker Nabih Berri has refused to convene any parliamentary session until the current deadlock is resolved, citing the danger of further opposition resignations that could worsen the crisis.

The Al Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the Damascus- and Tehran-backed Hezbollah, quoted an opposition source as saying that Moussa's talks with Berri "saw no results because of the majority's refusal to make concessions."

The opposition has mobilized thousands of protestors who have surrounded government offices in central Beirut since December 1, demanding the fall of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora's government with an open-ended campout and two mass rallies.

Opposition leaders have threatened to escalate their protests if their demands are not met, while the majority has accused them of seeking to mount a coup.

Siniora, who has been holed up in his offices since the start of the month, was to travel to Moscow later Thursday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a traditional ally of Syria.

Siniora's trip to Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, was to be followed in the coming days by a visit from Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

US President George W. Bush Wednesday pressed Syria to "cease its efforts to undermine Lebanese sovereignty by denying the Lebanese people their right to participate in the democratic process free of foreign intimidation and interference."

Assad in turn urged all countries to avoid "intervening in the affairs of Lebanon, because the Lebanese are capable of understanding each other regarding their domestic issues." -AFP