Saudi Arabia is working on hosting a reconciliation meeting between Lebanon's pro and anti-government factions next week, Arab diplomatic sources said on Tuesday.

The meeting would be along the lines of talks which produced a deal on a Palestinian unity government between the Fatah faction and the Islamist movement Hamas in Mecca last month, an Arab diplomat told AFP.

The proposed meeting would be held in Riyadh to "seal an agreement between the opposition and the parliamentary majority," he said.

Saudi Arabia has spearheaded efforts to resolve the political crisis that has gripped Lebanon since the Hizbullah-led opposition launched on December 1 an open-ended sit-in in downtown Beirut to topple the government of Premier Fouad Saniora.

The Arab diplomat said Riyadh's ambassador to Beirut, Abdul Aziz Khoja, is working on an agreement between the two sides.

The expected meeting would come ahead of an Arab summit due to be held in the Saudi capital on March 28-29, the diplomat said.

The two issues at the crux of the Lebanon crisis are the opposition's demand for veto power in the government and the majority's insistence on ratification of an international tribunal agreement to try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes.-AFP