BEIRUT, Lebanon -- A flurry of contacts between Lebanon's feuding factions and continuous mediation of international powers aiming at defusing political crisis in Lebanon raised hopes of reaching a deal to end the power struggle between the majority coalition and the opposition.

Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a main opposition leader, and rival parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri have met for four times during the past week in order to end the political impasse.

The two reached a decisive point during their latest meeting on Wednesday night which would either lead to more extensive talks or bring about superficial meetings, local As Safir daily reported on Thursday.

Berri and Hariri met for the third time on Monday after they embarked on their first talks on March 8 since the crisis erupted last November, when six opposition ministers resigned from the cabinet led by Prime Minister Fouad Seniora.

It is highly expected that the two would reinforce meetings in order to find a solution for the internal dispute before the Arab Summit in Saudi Arabia due on March 28-29, the daily added. In addition, the Lebanese crisis has attracted international attention amid fears that the country will plunge into the same violence as in the 1975-90 civil war.

International powers, including the European Union (EU) and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, have been exerting efforts to mediate between the rival groups.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met Berri and Seniora on Monday during his one-day visit to Lebanon, urging Lebanese leaders to find a quick political solution to their four-month-old power struggle as he started a visit to the Middle East. "It would be good to unblock the current political situation bythe time of the summit," Solana said, referring to the Arab Summit which will group Arab leaders in Riyadh on March 28.

On Tuesday, Solana said in Saudi Arabia, his second stop in a Mideast tour, that the EU backed Saudi efforts to resolve Lebanon's political crisis as the kingdom was working on hosting a meeting of the feuding factions.

Local press said, quoting Arab diplomatic sources in Riyadh,that Saudi Arabia is working on hosting a reconciliation meeting next week between Lebanon's pro- and anti-government factions. The meeting would be along model after the successful talks which produced a deal on a Palestinian unity government between the Fatah faction and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) in Mecca last month, according to the report.

But the Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal didn't confirm the meeting but said that it would welcome one if it would help resolve the crisis.

"If their (Lebanese leaders') presence here will lead to finding a solution that guarantees the interests of all as well as calm, stability and development in Lebanon, we would naturally welcome it," the Saudi foreign minister said.

Meanwhile, Lebanon was one of the main issues on the agenda of the Saudi-Iranian summit in early March, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid his first official visit to the kingdom. The predominantly Sunni kingdom and the Shiite-ruled Islamic Republic agreed to fight the spread of sectarian strife throughout the region.

Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi hailed the Saudi-Iranian summit as an event that would "help reopen doors ofdialogue" in Lebanon.

Lebanese dispute has lasted for months in which politician straded insults and their supporters clashed in the streets. The disputes of the two rival political blocs concentrated on two main issues, namely the opposition's demand for a veto in the government and the majority's demand for the ratification of an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, father of Saad Hariri. -Xinhua