Lebanon's rival political leaders met on Wednesday for a second round of talks on lingering disputes but no breakthrough was made given deep-seated differences, notably over Hezbollah's weapons. 

The 14 politicians, who assembled for some three and a half hours under the auspices of President Michel Sleiman, decided to gather again on December 22, a presidential spokesman told AFP. High on the agenda of Wednesday's talks, which brought together members of the pro- and anti-Syrian camps, was a demand by the Hezbollah militant group to expand the number of participants in the dialogue to include more of its allies. 

That suggestion has been rejected by members of the Western-backed parliamentary majority, who see in it an effort to torpedo the stated goal of the talks to forge a national defence strategy. A major stumbling block in agreeing on a strategy has been Hezbollah's weapons, an issue highlighted last May when the Shiite group staged a spectacular takeover of mainly Sunni parts of west Beirut. Hezbollah has rejected calls to disarm, arguing that its weapons and militia are essential to defend the country against neighbouring Israel. 

Members of the parliamentary majority say Hezbollah's weapons undermine the authority of the state, which should be the sole decision-maker on matters of defence. The first session of the national dialogue on September 16 took place after Qatar brokered a deal in May that put an end to a damaging 18-month political crisis that brought the country close to civil war. That session was quickly wrapped up in an effort to give the various parties a chance to bridge their differences. 

Press baron and MP Ghassan Tueni, a member of the parliamentry majority, was taken ill during the session on Wednesday and taken to hospital. His office told AFP that Tueni, 82, had suffered a malady that was not serious and was being kept in hospital for observation. Tueni's son, prominent journalist and MP Gibran Tueni, was among a number anti-Syrian figures who have been assassinated in Lebanon in the last three years.