BEIRUT: Lebanese government and party officials held talks on Tuesday to avert the collapse of Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government after he threatened to quit unless lebanon helps pay for a U.N.-backed court investigating the killing of Rafik al-Hariri.
Powerful Hezbollah has said it opposes funding the tribunal which it describes as an Israeli tool aimed at targeting the militant group. It has enough votes with its ministerial allies to block any decision by the cabinet.
The cabinet is expected to put the funding of the tribunal to a vote on Wednesday and Mikati said last week he would resign if his government fails to endorse the funding, adding that 12 of the 30 ministers also supported him.
"Intensive meetings are taking place today and tomorrow. We are trying to find a compromise over the court funding that does not annoy Hezbollah and allows the government to stay," a Lebanese official who is taking parts in the talks told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear what kind of compromise would save the government and satisfy the group but the Lebanese official said "situation is positive and a solution might be reached soon". He declined to elaborate.
Mikati, who met Hezbollah minister Mohamed Fneich, said on Tuesday that "work is underway to find a solution for the tribunal funding. Doors are still open, but nothing is final".
Fneich said after meeting Mikati that Hezbollah wanted the government to stay but "does not approve the funding."
Mikati came to power in January after Hezbollah and its allies toppled the coalition government of Hariri's son, Saad, in a dispute over the tribunal. Hezbollah and its allies wanted lebanon to cut all links with it. Hariri refused.
The court has indicted four Hezbollah members over the 2005 bombing that killed Rafik al-Hariri and 21 other people on the Beirut seafront. Hezbollah strongly denied any role in the killing.
Mikati has always said his government would honour lebanon's international commitments. The court has asked lebanon to pay more than $30 million this year, or 49 percent of its 2011 budget.