BEIRUT — The Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement secured all its key demands in a major political deal announced Wednesday by Lebanon’s feuding factions, heralding an end to the long political crisis that had pushed Lebanon dangerously close to civil war.
Lebanese awoke to the startling news that their squabbling leaders had finally agreed on a formula under which a new president would be elected, a new government formed, and the destabilizing 18-month-old occupation of downtown Beirut by Hezbollah protesters would be ended.
The lengthy confrontation more broadly mirrored the struggle for power underway in the Middle East between the United States, which brands Hezbollah a terrorist organization, and Iran, which provides weapons and funding for Hezbollah. The outcome reflected Iran’s rising influence in the region since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 brought to power a Shiite government there, extending Iran’s reach into the Arab world.
The deal came only after the Shiite Hezbollah movement had escalated pressure on the U.S.-backed Lebanese government by staging a military takeover of mostly Sunni West Beirut, defeating pro-government forces in a single night of battle.
By turning its guns on fellow Lebanese, Hezbollah had pushed the issue of its weapons to the fore, and government supporters had been insisting that Hezbollah’s private arsenal be part of any deal.
Instead, Hezbollah won its chief demand, for veto rights in the new government, without having to make any concessions on its weapons, affirming Hezbollah’s stature as “the preponderant military actor and the super political power in Lebanon,” according to political scientist Hilal Khashan of the American University of Beirut. Chicago Tribune
