Word: suleimane
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Topping the list of challenges facing Suleiman is the fate of Hizballah's arms - more pressing than ever after the Shi'ite group smashed the 19-month deadlock and routed its rivals with the stunning military seizure of west Beirut on May 9. The group's success on the ground is mirrored in the Doha agreement, hammered out in Qatar last week. In the deal, Lebanon's bickering leaders agreed to elect Suleiman, settled on an electoral law for next year's parliamentary elections, and formed a new government of national unity that grants the Hizballah-led opposition its long...
...inaugural address on Sunday, Suleiman said that Lebanon required a strong national defense strategy incorporating the "capabilities of the resistance" alongside the Lebanese army to confront "Israeli aggression." Hizballah's domestic opponents in the so-called "March 14 coalition" will press hard to limit the Shi'ite party's ability to use its weapons. But they have little leverage against a Hizballah that has proven it will fight to prevent being disarmed...
...This is a very complicated process," says Timur Goksel, a Beirut-based university lecturer and long-time observer of Hizballah. "Suleiman is a cool-headed man and he knows his limitations. I don't think he will rush into anything...
Among the foreign and Arab dignitaries attending Suleiman's election in the Lebanese parliament was Walid Muallem, Syria's foreign minister. It was the first official visit to Beirut by a senior Syrian official since 2005, signaling the possibility of a rapprochement between Damascus and the new government in Beirut...
...pomp and circumstance of his inauguration fade, President Suleiman faces a daunting barrage of political obstacles if he is to keep his beleaguered country peaceful, independent and intact...