Lebanon's ex-PM Saad Hariri says talks with Hezbollah a necessity

Lebanon's former prime minister Saad Hariri, speaking on a rare visit to Beirut marking the 10th anniversary of his father's assassination, said dialogue with Hezbollah was necessary to ease sectarian tensions in the country.

Five members of Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah have been indicted by an international tribunal over the 2005 killing of Rafik Hariri, who was commemorated on Saturday in the Lebanese capital.

The group has denied any involvement in the murder, which pushed Lebanon to the brink of civil war and still stirs emotions 10 years later. The killing deepened a sectarian divide in Lebanon's politics that still affects it to this day.

His son Saad - Lebanon's most influential Sunni politician, who is backed by Saudi Arabia - criticised Hezbollah on Saturday for its involvement in the Syrian conflict and said he would not allow it to drag Lebanon further into the civil war next door.

But he also backed talks between his Future Movement and Iran-backed Hezbollah that started last month to contain tensions in Lebanon, which have been exacerbated by the conflict in Syria.

"Dialogue is simply a necessity at this stage," he said at a ceremony dedicated to his father. "It is an Islamic need to contain sectarian tensions, a national necessity to right the political process and end the vacancy in the [Lebanese] presidency."