BEIRUT, 12 December 2006 — The Arab League won vital Syrian support yesterday for its efforts to end a standoff between Lebanon’s government and a Hezbollah-led opposition rallying hundreds of thousands in central Beirut, an envoy said.

Arab League envoy Mustafa Osman Ismail said he also had backing in principle from rival factions in Lebanon. There should, he said, be “no victor and no vanquished”. “I have received confirmation from the brothers in Syria that they (support) ... Lebanese consensus and support our efforts,” Ismail, a Sudanese presidential adviser, said after talks with President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

Ismail later traveled to Beirut and held separate talks with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of the pro-Syrian Hezbollah.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was due to join him in the Lebanese capital today.

Syria’s backing is seen as essential in forging any compromise in Lebanon. Though its troops left the country more than 18 months ago, Damascus still wields influence on many groups, the most powerful of which is Hezbollah.

An anti-government protest campaign entered its 11th day yesterday with thousands of opposition supporters maintaining a round-the-clock vigil at a tent city in central Beirut. Hundreds of thousands of protesters attended a rally in Beirut on Sunday to press demands for a national unity government that grants more power to Shiite Muslim Hezbollah and its Christian and Muslim allies. One security force source estimated the rally was the biggest in Lebanese history.

Lebanese Economy and Trade Minister Sami Haddad warned a prolonged political crisis could threaten a crucial aid conference scheduled for Jan. 25 in Paris.

“Worst case scenario could be very bleak if the political tension continues and we are not able to go to the Paris conference to get the desperately needed financial assistance, things could spin out of control,” he told Reuters in an interview.

Siniora, who has the backing of many world leaders, and his anti-Syrian allies refuse opposition demands, saying Hezbollah wants to place Lebanon under the tutelage of Syria and Iran. Ismail had told Arabiya television that the proposals cover a unity government, passage of a UN-proposed international tribunal to try suspects in last year’s killing of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and early presidential and general elections.

Lebanese political sources said Ismail and Moussa faced a difficult task in getting all parties not just to agree on the various issues but also on the sequence of implementing them. Hezbollah accuses Siniora and some allies of trying to weaken the group during a war with Israel in July and August.

Siniora has accused Hezbollah of trying to stage a coup following the war and commentators have warned the worsening standoff could degenerate into sectarian violence in a country still trying to rebuild after a 1975-90 civil war.

Meanwhile, the political crisis in Lebanon between the government and opposition could threaten an aid conference next month which could bring billions of dollars to the war-hit economy, a Lebanese minister said yesterday. Economy and Trade Minister Sami Haddad said the government was preparing for the international conference, dubbed “Paris 3”, on the assumption that it will take place in the French capital as scheduled on Jan. 25.

But he told Reuters in an interview, “If the political tension continues, there is a very serious risk this conference will either be postponed or, God forbid, canceled.” The talks are expected to help Lebanon cope with its public debt which is expected to reach $41 billion or a massive 190 percent of GDP by the end of this year, and whose servicing consumes at least two-thirds of government income.

The opposition, led by Hezbollah, is demanding the creation of a national unity government and has paralyzed Beirut’s center since Dec. 1 in an around-the-clock protest that shows no sign of fading. “The opposition is responsible for all what’s happening and if for whatever reason we’re not able to go to this conference, the opposition should bear all the consequences for having ... (deprived) the country of this unique opportunity,” Haddad said.