Top leaders from Lebanon's parliament majority and the opposition met for the first time in three months Thursday as part of efforts by the head of the Arab League to end Lebanon's 15-month-old political crisis. Majority leader Saad Hariri and opposition leader Michel Aoun met Thursday at the parliament building in downtown Beirut. They were joined by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel.  Hariri and Aoun held several meetings last year, including one in Paris in October. The opposition recently named Aoun as its representative in any meetings with the majority - a move that was rejected by the anti-syrian group for weeks.

The two leaders met in Parliament Thursday afternoon in the presence of Phalange Party president Amine Gemayel and Moussa himself. "I am optimistic. Holding the meeting is a success. There is still room for agreement, but there are some issues that need to be discussed extensively," Moussa said after the meeting which lasted for almost three hours. "We will meet again when I return from Damascus," he added.  Moussa is expected in Damascus on Friday.  The Arab chief league refused to discuss the details of the meeting, saying "the crisis will not be solved on newspaper pages," adding: "I will not speak in detail now. The crisis is very complicated and requires more discussions."

Asked about differences over interpreting the second item of the Arab initiative, Moussa said "the second item, relating to the formation of a unity government, is clear. It denies the opposition veto power, while denying the ruling coalition absolute majority in the Cabinet."  Asked about his view on internationalizing the Lebanese crisis, Moussa said he preferred "solving the Lebanese crisis on the Arab level."

The three-point Arab plan adopted by Arab foreign ministers during a meeting in Cairo earlier this month calls for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) General Michel Suleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections. The ruling coalition and the opposition are at odds over the interpretation of the Arab plan, namely the item on the formation of a unity government. The plan said the government should be formed in such a way that prevents any party from imposing or blocking Cabinet decisions.

The U.S. State Department says a bomb blast that struck a U.S. Embassy vehicle in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, has killed four people. Lebanese security officials put the death toll lower, at four. Speaking in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed outrage at the blast and called it a terrorist attack.  She said the U.S. will not be deterred in its efforts to help the Lebanese people and the democratic process in that country.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack says no American diplomats were in the U.S. Embassy vehicle at the time of the blast, but that the Lebanese driver was slightly injured. At least 16 people were wounded in the blast. McCormack says an American was among those injured but was not in the U.S. embassy car. There has been no claim of responsibility. Television footage showed damaged cars on streets in a mainly Christian suburb of north Beirut (Qarantina), and smoke rising over the city.

Nicholas Blanford in Beirut , Wearing tatty green Israeli army webbing over his black leather jacket, Walid shoulders an M16 rifle and squints down the barrel.