Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, who has been tasked with forming a new unity government in Lebanon, wants the newly elected President Michel Suleiman to hold two key portfolios in the future government.
“National interests require that the president gets the security-related interior and defense ministries,” Siniora said after meeting with Suleiman on Tuesday.
He said the opposition would be able to choose one the remaining key portfolios – finance or foreign affairs.
The Lebanese parliament elected Suleiman, former chief of the Lebanese army, as president last month after the country had been without a president for six months.
Suleiman was the only candidate acceptable to both the Western-backed parliamentary majority and the Hizbullah-dominated opposition, which has the backing of Syria and Iran.
Granting him two portfolios relating to security would be an attempt to appease the fighting rivals and stabilize the country.
Eight people were killed earlier this week in clashes between political rivals in the northern town Tripoli.
At least 65 people were killed in similar clashes last month, renewing fears of a civil war.
The majority and the opposition reached an agreement in Qatar last month, under which they would form a joint government.
Hizbullah will have veto power in the new government and it will not be disarmed, but it will be prohibited from using its arms against other Lebanese.
Siniora has so far failed to form a national unity government.