Rival Lebanese factions reached an agreement to resolve their 18-month political crisis after five days of intensive talks in the Gulf state of Qatar, Lebanese Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Wednesday.

The agreement was a major triumph for Lebanon's Hizbullah-led opposition, as it met the side's two key demands - veto power in a new national unity government, and an electoral law that divides up Lebanon into smaller-sized districts, for better representation of the various sects.

But the opposition was not gloating and Hamadeh said "there are no losers" in the agreement. "Lebanon is the winner," he told The Associated Press on the phone from Doha, the Qatari capital.

Hamadeh said the factions reached the breakthrough deal at dawn Wednesday. A signing ceremony was expected at 10:30 a.m., chaired by Qatari ruler Emir Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. Speeches by both sides and the Arab mediators would follow, he said.

The Qatar-hosted came on the heels of Lebanon's worst internal fighting since the 1975-90 civil war, with clashes earlier this month between pro-government groups and the opposition raging in the streets of Muslim west Beirut, the central mountains and the north. At least 67 people died.

As the country came close to a new all-out war, Arab League mediators intervened and got the sides to agree to hold negotiations in Qatar on resolving the crisis that has paralyzed the country.

Along with veto-power on government policies, the Syrian-backed opposition will get 11 seats in the Cabinet, while 16 seats would go to the US and Western-backed parliament majority, and the remaining three would be distributed by the elected president, according to Hamadeh.

He said the rival factions have also agreed on a new election law satisfactory for both sides. The new electoral law is significant because it will determine how the sides distribute power in the capital and directly influence the outcome of the next parliamentary elections in 2009.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, when Emile Lahoud stepped down, with the rival factions unable to resolve their differences over a future government. Both sides, however, have agreed on Gen. Michel Suleiman, the army chief, as a consensus candidate, but Parliament could not muster a quorum to meet without both sides agreeing on remaining issues - including the formation of the national unity government and electoral law.

Hamadeh said he expected Suleiman to be elected by Friday.

He also said legislators from the parliament majority, who have been living abroad fearing for their safety after a wave of bombings targeting mainly anti-Syrian lawmakers and politicians, would be asked to return to Beirut to vote for the president in parliament.

Asked whether the agreement bans Hizbullah's supporters from taking up arms and turning their weapons on fellow Lebanese as they did earlier this month, Hamadeh only said the "agreement forbids internal use of weapons ... and calls for dialogue ... on the whole subject of arms."

The agreement was struck after host Qatar stepped up pressure Tuesday, offering the rival factions two drafts on how to end the deadlock and a day to consider the proposals.

Lebanese televisions reported that the Qatari Emir intervened personally late Tuesday, arriving at the Doha hotel for meetings with leaders of both Lebanese camps. The emir had visited Saudi Arabia earlier in the day.

The negotiations had hit snags from the very start, with neither side willing to give concessions. By late Tuesday, they were back to working in joint committees on how to divide Beirut into electoral districts.

The 18-month political deadlock started when Hizbullah-led opposition lawmakers resigned from the government in November 2006 to protest the Cabinet's refusal to grant them enough seats to ensure veto power.

The Qatar deal was also a triumph for the tiny energy-rich Gulf state. Lebanese stalemate had defied mediation efforts by other Arab and European countries, including shuttle diplomacy in the last year by the foreign minister of France, Lebanon's former colonial ruler.