Lebanese rivals agree to power-sharing deal

BEIRUT -- Lebanon's political factions today signed a temporary power-sharing agreement that pulled the country back from the brink of civil conflict but failed to address the Shiite militia Hezbollah's formidable arsenal of heavy weapons, leaving aside the most contentious issue roiling Lebanon and threatening U.S. plans for the region.

The accord, signed today after six days of talks in Qatari capital of Doha and valid until parliamentary elections next year, would propel the Lebanese army chief of staff Michel Suleiman to the presidency, which has been vacant for six months.

But the deal also appeared to solidify Hezbollah's status as an armed force that overshadows the power of the Lebanese state. It gives the Iranian-backed militia and political organization and its allies enough Cabinet positions to veto major government decisions, including any potential attempt to dismantle the group's weapons or intelligence and telecommunications systems.

"This is an achievement for Hezbollah," said Talal Atrissi, a professor of political science at Lebanese University in Beirut.

The deal also grants some concessions to the U.S-backed political parties which back the government. Sunni leader Saad Hariri appeared to get the electoral law he sought, securing a majority of Beirut seats for his loyalists in upcoming 2009 parliamentary elections.

As part of the deal, Hezbollah and its Shiite and Christian allies will end an 18-month blockade of the city's graciously restored downtown. Removal of opposition tent encampments and roadblocks that have strangled the central business district and government offices was set to begin today.

Shares of Solidere, the development firm which runs the renovated downtown, hit record prices on the Beirut stock exchange this morning, Lebanese television reported.

The agreement also calls upon armed groups never to resort to violence to settle domestic disputes, a response to this month's Hezbollah-led offensive into Beirut, which sparked violence that left at 60 people dead.

"We have to agree never to use weapons to resolve our differences and to talk to each other to solve problems in a civilized and democratic way," Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said at the signing ceremony. "This is diversity. This is the true Lebanese formula."

Syria, a backer of the opposition, and France, a backer of the pro-government camp, both announced support for the agreement. Suleiman, a member of Lebanon's once dominant Maronite Christian community, retains strong ties to both opposition and government parties, though he was criticized for failing to confront Hezbollah during its recent operation.

Perched between Israel and Syria on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, tiny Lebanon has long been a battleground for regional powers. The country's Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze fought against and among each other during a 1975-1990 civil war that drew in the U.S., Iran, Syria and Israel.

It now finds itself among several countries in the Middle East where U.S. and Iranian allies vie energetically for power.

The Doha accord comes 18 years after the agreement signed in the Saudi Arabian resort town of Taif that ended the civil war. That agreement cemented the role of Lebanon's Sunni Arab community as an ascendant force, and the latest deal could mark the emergence of Lebanon's Shiites as a potent political force.

The deal also delivered a blow to Saudi Arabia, the primary patron of Lebanon's Sunnis, as its longtime Qatari rivals upstaged Riyadh as a diplomatic powerhouse. The Qataris accomplished in a week what the French and the Arab League were unable to do in months of talks.

"This meeting in Doha succeeded because all parties involved honored their responsibilities in a courageous way and made rational decisions," said Qatari emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

On Tuesday, it appeared the talks would collapse, but Qatari and other Arab diplomats pressured the Lebanese leaders to make a deal. The politicians faced rising disgust at home, where many Lebanese noted with glee how calm the country became after the politicians left Friday for the Persian Gulf.

A well-publicized campaign by wheelchair-bound activists calling for the politicians to continue to stay out of Lebanon unless they made a deal caught the imagination of many Lebanese and illustrated the contempt many feel for their political class.

daragahi@latimes.com