Hezbollah Wins In Lebanon Deal

The Siniora government and Hezbollah finished their peace 'negotiations' in Qatar today - and the actual result was an unconditional surrender. Hezbollah is getting everything it wanted,and giving up absolutely nothing.

Hezbollah ally General Michel Suleiman will take over as president,possibly as soon as Sunday and will appoint a new unity government.Hezbollah will receive 11 seats in the new unity government cabinet,which amounts to veto power over anything the government wants to do. Suleiman will also appoint a new army chief to fill the position he's vacating, and that army chief will undoubtedly be a Hezbollah ally.

While the pro-government Sunni, Christian and Druze faction heads at Doha accepted the standing of Hezbollah’s leader,Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, as a 'central national figure', they also agreed that Hezbollah's arch enemy Prime Minister Fouad Siniora will be on his way out as prime minister.

Hezbollah's armaments, which pro-Government leaders Siniora and Saad Hariri insisted be part of any deal will remain in Hezbollah's hands.

This is a major victory for Iran and Syria, and a major defeat for the US. It's hard to see how it could have gone any other way after Hezbollah's victories in Beirut and Tripoli and the refusal of the army,under Suleiman, to intervene.

The mood on the street in Lebanon is reported to be mostly ecstatic - which is understandable. After their experience with the civil war, the last thing most people want is a repeat performance.The fear will set in later, as Hezbollah consolidates its hold on the country, various people start mysteriously disappearing,and civil liberties are curtailed.