Saad Hariri, leader of the March 14 Alliance majority bloc, made the announcement on Thursday after meeting Nabih Berri, parliament speaker and a key member of the political opposition.

"They will be removed within three days ... first from the Beirut district and then throughout the rest of Lebanon as soon as possible," Hariri said.

Abdel Moniem al-Ariss, the mayor of the Lebanese capital, said that the move to take the posters down is being undertaken in co-ordination with Lebanon's political parties and the interior ministry.

"I call on all the major political parties to take down their banners to set an example for others," al-Ariss said.

Removing the posters would reduce tension in the country, he said.

Tension over banners

Beirut's streets and buildings are plastered with posters, party flags and portraits of political and military leaders, including Hariri and Berri.

The banners are highly symbolic of the simmering divisions between communities in the Lebanese capital.

While posters of Hariri predominate in western Beirut, flags of opposition parties Hezbollah and Amal fly in the south of the city.

Arguments over the placement of political posters have often turned violent.

Last week, two people were killed in a dispute over the hanging of a banner in northern Lebanon.

The March 14 majority, led by Hariri's Future Trend movement, is in talks with the opposition, led by Hezbollah, ahead of a national dialogue which will precede parliamentary elections due next year.

Agencies