Lebanon rivals sign deal, elect president Sunday

Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict, pulling their country away from the brink of civil war and paving the way for the election of a new president.

Parliament will convene on Sunday to elect army chief General Michel Suleiman as head of state, aides to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Reuters in Qatar, where the feuding sides signed the accord after six days of Arab-mediated talks. The agreement between the U.S.-

backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition resolved a dispute over a law for holding 2009 parliamentary elections and met the opposition's long-standing demand for veto power in cabinet. It followed a Hezbollah military campaign this month against ruling coalition leaders which bolstered the opposition's political strength. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, routed its rivals in the conflict that killed 81 and prompted the Qatari-led mediation bid.

It was Lebanon's worst civil conflict since the 1975-1990 war and exacerbated tensions between Shiites loyal to Hezbollah and Druze and Sunni supporters of the government.

Today, we are opening a new page in Lebanon's history," said Saad al-Hariri, a Sunni politician who leads the governing coalition.

His supporters were among those defeated by Hezbollah. Hezbollah delegation leader Mohammed Raad said the deal would help "towards strengthening coexistence and building the state". Iran and Syria welcomed the agreement, as did France.Paris, which supports the ruling alliance, last year tried but failed to resolve a power struggle complicated by the factions' ties to competing foreign states.

Power struggle
The anti-Damascus ruling coalition had long refused to meet the opposition's demand for cabinet veto power, saying the opposition was trying to restore Syrian control of Lebanon.

Syria was forced to withdraw troops from Lebanon in 2005 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri, Saad al-Hariri's father.

The United States held up the withdrawal as a foreign policy success but the Hezbollah-led opposition has steadily piled pressure on Washington's allies in Lebanon.Opposition ministers quit Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet in November 2006 in protest at the governing alliance's refusal to meet the demand for veto power.

The resignations stripped the cabinet of all its Shiite members and upset Lebanon's delicate sectarian power-sharing system.

Hezbollah's military campaign this month forced the government to rescind two measures which the Shiite group viewed as hostile enough to justify an armed response.The opposition began to remove a protest encampment controlled by Hezbollah in central Beirut. The tent city, erected next to the government's headquarters, has paralyzed the central commercial district since December 2006.

Under the deal both sides pledged not to use violence in political disputes.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, who announced the deal in Doha, will attend Suleiman's confirmation by parliament on Sunday. The Lebanese leaders had thought of holding the vote as early as Thursday, but postponed it until Sunday to allow Sheikh Hamad and other dignitaries to attend. Once elected president, Suleiman will chair talks among the leaders on strengthening the Lebanese state.