AFP BEIRUT Qatar on Thursday offered to host further inter- Lebanese talks after prime minister- designate Saad al Hariri gave up on forming a government that could have ended a longstanding political stalemate.

Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al Thani made the offer after Hariri stepped down as prime minister- designate having spent two months trying to agree to a cabinet acceptable to Hezbollah.

The rejection of Hariri’s proposed team sparked fears of a new political crisis in a country where bickering led to deadly fighting only last year.

“We hope that the Lebanese will find a solution but we are ready to help them if that becomes necessary,” the prime minister said after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

“We expect current talks reach a positive result with the opposition and end up with consensus.

In Lebanon, everything must be done by consensus,” he said.

“Given that my commitment to forming a government of national unity has run up against difficulties that everyone now knows about, I announce that I have informed the president of the republic that I have abandoned trying to form a government,” he told journalists in Beirut.

“I worked for 73 days to achieve this objective but each time the rounds of negotiations were hampered one way or another,” added Hariri, saying the team he had proposed was “frittered away through conditions imposed” by the minority.

“I hope that this decision will be in the interests of Lebanon and will permit a relaunch of dialogue,” he added.