Word: hizballah
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...Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite political party Hizballah, which possesses its own military, is using its influence to press for a new President friendly to its agenda and the interests of its Syrian and Iranian backers. Meanwhile, pro-Western, anti-Syrian politicians threaten to elect a President from their own camp if the opposition rejects a consensus candidate. Hizballah and its allies say they will not recognize an anti-Syrian President and hint they will form a rival government instead...
...outcome of the last-minute negotiations will not only affect the future stability of Lebanon, but will also help shape the tussle for control of the Mideast between the United States, Israel and Washington's mainly Sunni Arab allies, against Iran, Syria and their local allies, particularly Hizballah. "What we have now is a confrontation between states taking place in Lebanon," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Endowment's Middle East Center in Beirut...
...moment, Lebanon was held up as a rare success in the Bush Administration's floundering effort to promote democracy in the Mideast. But the pro-Syrian opposition, headed by Hizballah, began to fight back, asserting that Washington's version of Mideast democracy had more to do with protecting Israel from its Arab enemies than promoting genuine freedom...
...heart of the emerging impasse between the anti-Syrian "March 14" block, which forms the backbone of the government, and the pro-Syrian opposition was the fate of Hizballah's formidable military wing. The March 14 block seeks Hizballah's disarmament in line with U.N. resolutions. It fears that Hizballah's weapons are really intended to serve its patron Iran, thus dragging Lebanon into the frontline of the power struggle between Washington and Tehran over the latter's nuclear ambitions. Hizballah maintains that its weapons are the only means of deterring Israeli aggression against Lebanon and that calls...
...will not signal the end of Lebanon's grinding political crisis. The confrontation will move onto the identity of the next Prime Minister, the formation of the new government, and key appointments in the security forces. And then there is that matter of implementing the U.N. resolutions to disarm Hizballah...