December 04, 2007	Tuesday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1428

BEIRUT: Washington’s allies in Lebanon are on the back foot in their political battle with Hezbollah, giving ground in a tussle for control of the presidency to the group backed by Syria and Iran.

The US-backed governing coalition nominated army chief General Michel Suleiman for president on Sunday, backing a figure who has close ties to Hezbollah and its favourite consensus candidate for the post.

The Hezbollah-led opposition and the governing coalition had been at odds for months over who should replace Emile Lahoud, the pro-Syrian president whose term ended on Nov 23.

Parliament has repeatedly failed to elect his successor because the rivals had been unable to agree. But politicians now see progress towards a deal on Suleiman, who could be elected as early as Friday when the chamber has been called again.

A deal on Suleiman would defuse a political conflict that has paralysed the country and triggered warnings of civil war.

The governing coalition’s backing for Suleiman in part aims to avert more turmoil. But it also marks a setback for the governing coalition, or March 14 alliance, said Sateh Noureddin, a columnist at As-Safir newspaper.

March 14 had wanted a president who shared its agenda of curbing Syrian influence and seeking to disarm Hezbollah. “It’s a setback for March 14. It’s very evident,” Noureddin said.

The governing coalition’s nomination of Suleiman, appointed army chief when Syria still controlled Lebanon, “was based on their calculation of the balance of power in the country”, he said. “This balance was in favour of the opposition.”Hezbollah has puts its logistical muscle to use during the year-long conflict, mobilising hundreds of thousands in protests, closing down the country in January with a general strike and shutting down central Beirut with a tent city.

“Hezbollah has always been stronger than the others. That’s why there had to be a capitulation,” said Nadim Shehadi, an associate fellow with Chatham House in London.

March 14 has justified its shift by stressing the need to fill the presidency, vacant for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war. “Realism” is not defeat, said Walid Jumblatt, formerly a governing coalition hardliner.

The make-up of a new cabinet to be appointed once Lebanon has a new president has yet to be determined, making it difficult to determine who the final winners and losers will be.

But Hezbollah already senses victory in its struggle with the governing coalition and its US sponsors.

“The United States felt impotence, weakness and failure,”

Hezbollah cleric Sayyed Hashem Safieddin said. “The retreat of ... American policy in Lebanon is the result of the strength of the resistance and the perseverance of the opposition,” he said.

Syria is watching events in Lebanon with satisfaction, sensing the fragility of a coalition whose victory in 2005 parliamentary election was held up by Washington as an example of emerging democracy in the Middle East.

Consulted by France during its efforts to resolve the presidential crisis, Damascus won Western recognition of its central role in Lebanon.—Reuters