Druze leader Walid Jumblatt's comments were markedly more conciliatory in tone than the position of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, who earlier this month roundly rejected a call for dialogue from parliament speaker and opposition stalwart Nabih Berri.

"The crisis will only be resolved through dialogue whereby each side makes meaningful concessions to the other side," Jumblatt told the leftist pro-opposition daily As-Safir.

The deadlock between the Western-backed government and the Iranian- and Syrian-backed opposition has left Lebanon without a president since last November -- and the government unable to pass legislation since 2006.

Berri issued his call for dialogue after talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on April 7.

He said the dialogue should tackle two key matters of dispute -- the formation of a government of national unity and the drafting of a new electoral law.

Siniora, a Sunni Muslim, rejected the call in Cairo the same day, insisting that Berri needed to convene a session of parliament to elect a new president first. "The path to a solution through dialogue no longer exists in Lebanon at present," he said.

But the governing coalition, which also embraces Christian and leftist factions, has yet to take a joint position.

Jumblatt said that any dialogue had to address what he said was the most important issue -- the future of the weapons still held by Shiite militant group Hezbollah, a key opposition group.

"This issue needs to be resolved in accordance with domestic, regional and international circumstances, with the knowledge that there is no alternative in the long term to these weapons being in the hands of the state," Jumblatt said.

Hezbollah says it needs to keep its arms to "resist the constant threat" posed by Israel.

The ruling coalition retorts that the weapons give Hezbollah a monopoly on the decision to go to war that ought to be in the hands of the state, especially after the devastating 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which set the terms of the ceasefire that ended that 34-day war, calls for the disarmament of all Lebanese militias.