"We are now giving a chance for political negotiations," Defence Minister Elias Murr ( pictured right) said as US military aircraft delivered tonnes of military aid for the Lebanese armed forces.

"If the political negotiations fail, I will leave it up to the army command to carry out the required actions," Mr Murr said.

He did not specify who was brokering the talks and stressed he was not involved in negotiations "because it is not within the scope of my duties".

Media reports said mainstream Palestinian factions were trying to break the deadlock between the Lebanese army and fringe militant group Fatah al-Islam for fear of the impact on Palestinian civilians of an all-out offensive against the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, which has been the main focus of the fighting.

Almost 80 people have been killed, 33 of them Lebanese soldiers, in the worst internal strife since the 1975-90 civil war.

A fragile, undeclared truce was called on Friday night.

"The situation is calm today. The army is respecting the truce, but will respond forcefully and decisively if attacked," an army officer, who asked not to be identified, said yesterday.

"Last night, they tried to attack an army position, but the army responded and they suffered losses."

Fatah al-Islam said it had no intention of surrendering, but its fighters would continue to observe the ceasefire it unilaterally declared on Tuesday.

Witnesses said sniper fire during the day brought a halt to an exodus of civilians from the refugee camp outside Tripoli.

"They are too scared from the fire to dare to go out," said displaced refugee Hassan Sayed, who was waiting outside the camp for the rest of his family to make it out.

US air force planes began delivering military equipment to the Lebanese army as Washington expedited existing requests from the beleaguered Beirut Government to assist its campaign against the Islamists.

"I can certainly confirm to you that there have been deliveries of assistance from the US," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said a day after Congress approved a seven-fold increase in military aid to Lebanon, to $342 million this year.

France is also sending military assistance to the Lebanese government.

The Lebanese army command said it had received military supplies from "brotherly Arab states".

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, whose Shi'ite militant group led last summer's devastating war with Israel, warned the government against joining a US-inspired war against the al-Qaida-inspired militants of Fatah al-Islam.

"We should not enter Lebanon into the American . . . war on terrorism . . . into the war on al-Qaida," he said, calling for an immediate ceasefire and "a security, political and judicial settlement".

Source: Sunday Herald Sun