Lebanon's Hariri set to become prime minister

STRONG SUPPORT

Hariri, 39, had been keen on securing the backing of his powerful Shi'ite rivals, who are close allies of neighbouring Syria, to ensure a smooth launch for his administration.

As such immediately after the June 7 election he called for the shelving of the contentious issue of disarming Hezbollah. The group, labelled as a terrorist organisation by the United States, has battled Israeli forces since the early 1980s.

It fought a 34-day war against Israel in 2006, in which 1,200 people died in Lebanon and some 160 in Israel.

Saudi Arabia and western countries including the United States have been major supporters of Hariri, whose father Rafik was assassinated in 2005. Hariri led his coalition through a bitter and sometimes bloody power struggle with his rivals.

The meeting between Hariri and Nasrallah also aimed at defusing Sunni-Shi'ite tensions that last year threatened to boil over into a civil war when Hezbollah fighters routed Hariri and his allies' supporters in Beirut and mountains to the east.

A Qatari-sponsored deal in May, 2008 defused the crisis but sectarian tensions rose again in the run-up to the election.

Pursuing justice for his father and other anti-Syrian figures assassinated since 2005 had been one of Hariri's priorities. He twice passed up the chance of becoming prime minister, preferring to giving the post to his father's senior aide, Fouad Siniora.

He had repeatedly accused Syria of the killings but has toned down his anti-Syrian rhetoric since the establishment of an international tribunal to try the killers earlier this year.

(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam; Editing by Matthew Jones)