Lebanon's rival political factions today began reconciliation talks that will include the issue of disarming Hezbollah, the powerful Shia group, which is required under a UN resolution.

Leaders of 14 groups met at the presidential palace for talks led by the president, Michel Suleiman, as part of a peace deal reached in Qatar in May that ended sectarian clashes and defused a long-running political crisis.

Given Lebanon's long-standing divisions, progress is expected to be halting. The Hezbollah-led minority coalition and the western-backed parliamentary majority remain at loggerheads over the fate of Hezbollah's arsenal.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, has resisted calls to disarm under a UN resolution that ended a month-long war with Israel in 2006. The group says its weapons are necessary to protect and defend Lebanon against Israeli attacks.

"I am completely confident that we can adopt a strategy that protects Lebanon based on our armed forces and benefiting from the resources and capabilities of the resistance," Suleiman said in his opening speech, referring to Hezbollah.

Following his speech, the participants, including the Arab League chief, Amr Moussa, who was invited to attend as an observer, went into closed session. The process is expected to be drawn-out, with the first session likely to focus on establishing an outline for future sessions, before dealing with Hezbollah's weapons.

Mohammed Raad, a senior Hezbollah MP who is representing the group, has implicitly rejected local and international demands to disarm. "Defending ourselves is a right that does not require a decision. This issue can be debated in theory but the answer is clear and has already been decided," he said on Sunday.

Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated former prime minister Rafiq, heads the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority. He said such thinking reduced the upcoming dialogue to "a mere photo opportunity".

Previous reconciliation efforts in June 2006 failed to make headway. One month later, Hezbollah's decision to kidnap two Israeli soldiers, triggering a 34-day war with Israel, revived the debate over Hezbollah's arsenal.

Lebanon has teetered on the brink of civil war since the conflict with Israel. The most recent bout of fighting was brought to an end by the Doha accord in May that resulted in the election of Suleiman, the former head of the army, as a compromise president. A national unity government was formed that gave Hezbollah and its allies veto power over all major cabinet decisions.

Beirut's Daily Star newspaper said in an editorial: "It remains to be seen whether the timing of Suleiman's presidency is a blessing or a curse. If he succeeds in getting Lebanon's squabbling political players to resolve their differences, he will go down in history as the best president this country ever had. If he fails on this score, nothing else he might accomplish will stop the Lebanese from destroying themselves."