Jun 16, 2008 3:11 am US/Pacific
Rice Visits Lebanon, Boosting Fragile Government
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) ―
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put a U.S. stamp of approval Monday on a fragile new government in Lebanon that increased the power of Hezbollah militants.
Rice made an unannounced visit to Lebanon's capital to meet with Western-backed leaders of the emerging coalition government. The U.S. regards Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah as a terrorist group and has no dealings with it.
"I'm going to express the United States' support for Lebanese democracy and Lebanese sovereignty and to talk about how the United States can support the institutions of a free Lebanon," Rice told reporters on the flight from Israel.
Hezbollah, which is both a militia and a political power, gained veto power over the Beirut government in a compromise brokered last month. The deal ended 18 months of political paralysis, and followed bloody street clashes.
The U.S. would have preferred that Hezbollah not gain greater power, but has called the deal a necessary step for stability.
The breakthrough, reached with the help of Arab mediators, allowed Lebanon's parliament to elect a new president. The election of army chief Michel Suleiman last month brought palpable relief to Lebanese who feared their country was in danger of another civil war. Is also ushered in a shift in the balance of power in favor of Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Rice is the first high-level U.S. official to visit since the power sharing agreement was reached. She will be meeting President Suleiman for the first time.
Hezbollah's ascendancy is a setback for the U.S., which had strongly backed the Lebanese government for three years and is concerned that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East. Nevertheless, the U.S. welcomed the developments in Lebanon and its diplomats and visiting congressmen attended Suleiman's election.
The U.S. government has labeled Hezbollah a terrorist organization and blames it for the deaths of 241 U.S. Marines in the bombing of their Beirut barracks in 1983, as well as for two attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and the 1985 TWA hijacking that killed an American serviceman on board. Hezbollah repeatedly has denied such accusations and says it now opposes terrorism.
Hezbollah and its allies fought a monthlong war with Israel in the summer of 2006 that ended in a stalemate.
Political bickering prevented parliament from electing a president 19 times, leaving the country without a president since Emile Lahoud left office in November.
Suleiman's election is the first tangible step in the deal to end the political crisis which erupted in May into the worst violence since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
The agreement was a victory for Hezbollah and its allies, who got their long-standing demand for veto power over government decisions.
The Shiite militant group won that concession after it demonstrated its military power last month. Gunmen overran large parts of Muslim west Beirut after the government tried to rein Hezbollah in.
The show of force left 67 people dead and gave Hezbollah new political leverage. The United States claims it also has provoked a backlash against Hezbollah among many Lebanese who cannot stomach the group's use of force against fellow Lebanese.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
