BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai is currently holding a closed-door meeting with Hezbollah officials Thursday in Bkirki.

Pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar said in an article published Thursday that Rai and a Hezbollah delegation would meet to launch dialogue between the Maronite Church and the resistance party.

The newspaper also said that the two parties will discuss the issue of arms, which has been contested by the March 14 coalition as falling outside the jurisdiction of the state.

Rai has escalated his demand for the international community to implement U.N. resolutions related to the conflict between Lebanon and Israel in order to deny Hezbollah the pretext to maintain its weapons.

Hezbollah has said that its possession of arms is the only means to defend Lebanon from repeated Israeli aggression. It has also praised the tripartite formula of the “people, army, and resistance” as the only eligible defense strategy, as supported by a number of top officials in the country.

The patriarch and a Hezbollah delegation met on Jan. 2 when Hezbollah warned that the unrest in Syria might affect Lebanon.

Since his appointment last year Rai has reached out to Hezbollah, setting a different approach to his predecessor, former Patriarch Mar Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who repeatedly criticized Hezbollah's arms and voiced support for the March 14 party.