SHOTLIST

1. Arrival of convoy with Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

2. Sultanov walking with officials

3. Pan from cameramen and photographers to Sultanov and Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister

4. Mid of Sultanov

5. Mid of Salloukh

6. Wide of meeting

7. Cutaway cameramen

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic), Alexander Sultanov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister:

"We discussed the international tribunal and other internal affairs. We agreed on the continuation of national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

9. Cameramen

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fawzi Salloukh, former Lebanese Foreign Minister:

"Russia will take all necessary action to help and support in finding a solution to the problem."

11. Convoy leaving

12. Presidential palace

13. Sultanov at meeting with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

14. Mid of Lahoud

15. Mid of Sultanov

16. Exterior, Prime Minister's office building

17. Lebanese flag

18. Various of meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora

19. Exterior of Ein El-Tineh Palace

20. Various of meeting with parliament speaker, Nabih Berri

STORYLINE:

Envoys from Russia and the UN were involved in Beirut on Tuesday in what may be a last-ditch attempt to win approval from Lebanon's opposing camps for an international tribunal into the assassination of Lebanon's prime minister, Rafik Hariri, a subject that's divided Lebanese opinion and which threatens the country's stability.

The parliament has put off approving a draft agreement with the United Nations, paralyzed by a political crisis between the government, which wants a multi-national tribunal to prosecute suspects in the 2005 assassination, and the Hezbollah-led opposition, which wants more discussion first.

The Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and the parliamentary majority have asked the United Nations to impose the Hariri tribunal and bypass the Lebanese legislature but opposition leaders have warned that such intervention could spell more trouble for the country.

Clashes over the issue have already caused nine deaths.

Opposition campaigners have been camping outside Saniora's office since December, 2006, paralyzing large parts of the capital's commercial district to demand his resignation but Saniora has refused to step down.

Russia's deputy foreign minister, Alexander Sultanov arrived for talks in Beirut with various Lebanese officials and the former Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh.

Sultanov said that Russia was eager to help find a compromise, not impose a solution, stressing that the Lebanese need to find consensus through dialogue.

"We discussed the international tribunal," he said. "We agreed upon the continuation of the national dialogue, a dialogue of all the problems in Lebanon, because dialogue is the only way to save the national consensus and unity."

Fawzi Salloukh, who resigned as Lebanon's foreign minister, said that Russia would do what is necessary to help and support in finding a solution to the problem.

Russia, with a veto on UN Security Council resolutions, has enjoyed good relations with Lebanon and Syria, which has been widely accused of involvement in the assassination.

Sultanov also met with Lebanon's President Emile Lahoud, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. He is then expected to travel to Syria, which remains an important player despite the withdrawal of its army from Lebanon in the wake of Hariri's assassination.

Along with Sultanov, the top UN legal chief Nicolas Michel was flying in later Tuesday to Beirut to help overcome the impasse.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, is scheduled to visit Syria next week, after a trip to Lebanon in March.

The anti-Syrian majority in Parliament blames Damascus for killing Hariri, an accusation Syria vehemently denies, and say the Syrians were using their Lebanese allies to undermine the formation of the tribunal.

SHOTLIST

++AUDIO AS INCOMING++

1. Exterior of Baabda Palace

2. Wide of meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud

3. Close-up of Lavrov, pull out to wide

4. Close-up of Lahoud

5. Exterior of Grand Serail

6. Various of meeting between Lavrov and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora

7. Saniora speaking

8. Various of Lavrov listening

9. Wide of news conference

10. Cutaway of reporters

11. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister:

"All of UN resolution 1701 should be implemented. The sea and air blockade should be lifted over Lebanon and the Lebanese army should be deployed in the south along with the UNIFIL troops and of course the two Israeli detainees should be freed."

12. Cutaway of cameras

13. Lavrov leaving news conference

14. Exterior shot with arrival of United Nations (UN) Undersecretary General for Legal Affairs Nicholas Michel

15. Various of meeting between Michel and Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk

STORYLINE:

As part of the continuing diplomatic efforts to consolidate the ceasefire between Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces, the Russian Foreign Minister arrived in Beirut on Thursday to meet Lebanese officials.

Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora that each part of UN resolution 1701 must be implemented, referring to the resolution that ended 34 days of fighting between the two sides on August 14 (2006).

"The sea and air blockade should be lifted over Lebanon and the Lebanese army should be deployed in the south along with the UNIFIL troops and of course the two Israeli detainees should be freed," he said.

Lavrov also held talks with Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.

Afterwards he said there must a comprehensive settlement in the Middle East and an international conference would help achieve this.

Lavrov's visit comes after Israel announced that it would lift an air and sea blockade on the country by Thursday evening.

Israel had come under international pressure to lift its embargo, which had threatened to derail efforts to implement the UN resolution.

The embargo, which business leaders have said cost the country about 50 (m) million US dollars per day, was also hampering massive rebuilding efforts.

The lifting of the embargo marked a major victory for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and it showed that with UN mediation, some of the outstanding disagreements might be resolved.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Undersecretary General for Legal Affairs also arrived in the country late on Wednesday to advance efforts to formulate an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Nicolas Michel said he was in Lebanon to meet top Lebanese judicial and political officials at the request of Annan.

He said he hoped to be able to make progress in agreeing a legal basis for the establishment of a tribunal.

On Thursday he presented a final UN draft on the tribunal to Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk.

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan across barriers and barbed wire surrounding Lebanese prime minister's office

2. Lebanese flag

3. Soldier behind barbed wire, outside Lebanese prime minister's office

4. WS of Secretary general of the Arab League press conference

5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Amr Moussa, secretary General of the Arab League, "Progress has been made at some levels in the package and there are some levels that need further effort and this will need us to come back again for further consultation"

6. Cutaway reporters

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Amr Moussa, secretary General of the Arab League, " You have heard of the proposed numbers (cabinet members) and this is agreed and will just have to negotiate guarantees"

8. Cutaway reporters

9. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Amr Moussa, secretary General of the Arab League, "We want to reach a formula of no victor, no vanquished ... A win-win situation."

10. End of presser

STORYLINE

The Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Thursday the Lebanese government and opposition have agreed on a national unity Cabinet, in a major step toward defusing political and sectarian tensions, but added that more work was still needed to seal a deal.

Wrapping up two days of mediation talks with rival Lebanese factions, Moussa told a news conference that he might have to return to Beirut in the next few days to continue his discussions with government and opposition leaders to reach an agreement on a package.

He said the parties had agreed on a Cabinet of national unity, which would include opposition minority and majority members, but they wanted to discuss "guarantees" to make it work.

The formula agreed would give the anti-Syrian coalition less than two-thirds majority of the Cabinet and it would leave the opposition short of their demand for a veto-wielding one third plus one.

A neutral Cabinet minister would hold the balance.

"We want to reach a formula of no victor, no vanquished ... A win-win situation," Moussa said.

Moussa referred to an earlier formula for a new 30-member Cabinet, whereby Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and his allies would hold 19 seats, Hezbollah and its allies in the opposition would hold 10 seats and a neutral minister being the balancing factor.

That formula would deprive Saniora and his anti-Syrian allies from taking decisions by a two-third majority while Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies would lack the 11 seats needed to veto decisions or to even bring down the government through mass resignations. That formula would force both sides to reach consensus on key decisions.

A unity government has been a major demand of the Hezbollah-led opposition, which has been waging a campaign of sit-ins and street protests in Beirut for two weeks.

It had threatened to work to oust Saniora's Western-backed government if the minimum demand of full participation in the Cabinet was not met.

Saniora's allies have demanded that the fate of President Emile Lahoud, a pro-Syrian, be on the table, and want a new president elected before Lahoud's term ends in November.

Another point of dispute is over an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri, with the government approving it but the opposition balking at endorsing the draft before the government crisis is solved.

Moussa said a committee comprising delegates from the government and the opposition would be formed to discuss opposition reservations over the framework of the Hariri tribunal.

The Arab League chief called on parties to defuse the tensions and expressed hope to work out some of the issues in the next two weeks.

The opposition has said it will not pull out the thousands of supporters who have been camping out in tents in downtown Beirut near the prime minister's office before their demands are met.

The western-backed prime minister has refused opposition demands to quit and has been working from his office behind a cordon of barbed wire and hundreds of combat troops and armed police.