The former French ambassador to Damascus was to meet separately with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun before dining with representatives of pro- and anti-Syrian factions locked in a feud that has crippled political life in Lebanon.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, he is set to meet with various political leaders including representatives of the pro-Syrian opposition Hezbollah, a French diplomatic source in Lebanon told AFP.

Cousseran's visit comes a week after he made a tour of the region that included the first high-level contact between France and Syria in more than two years.

His mission in Beirut is aimed at paving the way for a trip to Beirut by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday, the diplomatic source said.

Kouchner telephoned Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora at the weekend to brief him on his envoy's visits last week to Syria, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, according to a Lebanese government source.

The diplomatic efforts come after July 14-15 talks in a Paris suburb that brought together members of the pro-Western government of Siniora and of Hezbollah, which is branded a terrorist group by the United States and fought a war with Israel last year.

Lebanon has been deadlocked since November when six pro-Syrian ministers quit the cabinet charging that it was riding roughshod over the power-sharing arrangements in force since the 1975-1990 civil war.

The Shiite Hezbollah-led opposition, which is backed by Syria and Iran, has demanded a unity government in which it would have a veto.

Fears are running high that the situation could worsen ahead of the election by parliament in late September of a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.

France's decision to send its envoy to Damascus marks a potential softening of its stance following the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy in May, diplomatic sources said.

The arrival of Sarkozy in power has made it possible for Paris to reassess its position, which had been isolated in Europe over its refusal to talk with Damascus, the sources said.

France's relations with Syria have been frozen for two years since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

Despite its repeated denials, Syria has been implicated in a United Nations probe over the massive seafront bomb blast that killed Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005.

An Arab League mission to Beirut last month ended without making progress in getting Lebanon's feuding political factions closer to the negotiating table. -AFP