BEIRUT, Lebanon - One month after legislative elections which gave anti-Syrian groups a majority in parliament, Lebanon was still scrambling Monday to form a new government in the face of mounting tensions with Damascus.

European foreign ministers gathered in Brussels were due to meet UN Lebanese envoy Terje Roed-Larsen to discuss the impasse, a diplomatic source in Beirut said.

The situation at the Lebanese-Syrian border where hundreds of trucks have been held up for days, the government crisis and the disarmament of Shiite movement Hezbollah's armed wing were due to be discussed at the meeting.

Damascus blames the border delays on a tightening up of security measures, while many Lebanese see a malevolent Syrian hand in the hold-ups and in the brief detention of nine Lebanese fishermen caught in Syrian territorial waters.

The fishermen were freed Monday following a phone conversation between Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad, a statement from Lahoud's office said.

Even Lebanon's new minders, Washington and Paris, have voiced concern over the failure to form a government after the four-stage election that wrapped up in June, the first held without a Syrian presence in the country.

Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa, on a visit to Damascus on Sunday, called for "political entente" between the countries.

"The departure of Syrian forces from Lebanon does not signal the end of Syrian-Lebanese relations. A political entente is necessary between the two countries which must take into account the importance of the common interests that tie them," Mussa said.

But the lack of a government has so far rendered impossible a resumption of dialogue between Beirut and Damascus to sort out the problems that have emerged since the last Syrian troops left in April.

Many Lebanese believe that Syria is still smarting from the forced departure of its forces after a near 30-year stay in the face of international political and Lebanese popular pressure.

"Syria has decided to no longer accord the facilities enjoyed by Lebanon in the past," the Lebanese daily As-Safir quoted a senior Syrian source as saying Monday.

"What's happening isn't going to improve Syria's image in Lebanon."

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt told journalists that "there is no reason for the Lebanese people to pay the price" for the situation on Lebanon's land and sea frontiers with Syria.

"What we're seeing is a Syrian blockade, which is against the principles that should guide our relations following the departure of Syrian troops," added MP Elias Atallah, leader of the Democratic Left movement.

Talks nevertheless continued Monday over forming a new government.

"The cabinet is due to be formed soon," caretaker Prime Minister Nagib Miqati said following a meeting with Lahoud to discuss the Syrian-Lebanese crisis.

Having failed to form a government of national unity and then a cabinet of technocrats, prime minister-designate Fuad Siniora said Friday he intended to form a government from a broad spectrum of parties and with the approval of the pro-Syrian Hezbollah-Amal alliance.

"I'm patient, but patience has its limits. You have to recognise that there's a new reality following the elections which gave the country a new majority," Siniora said at the weekend.

He gave reassurances that the proposed government would include "a broad range of the political forces represented in parliament," with the exception of that of former exiled Christian MP Michel Aoun.

But Lahoud has said that he wants Aoun's group, which has 21 MPs in the 128-seat parliament, to take part in government in order for it to be truly representative.

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