Iran using Hizbollah to seize influence in Lebanon

Telegraph Media Group

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's acting foreign minister, flew to Syria to meet Bashar al-Assad, the president. It was officially acknowledged that the two were discussing Lebanon as their protégé, the militant and political group Hizbollah, grows more confident that it will be able to name the next prime minister.

Hizbollah and its allies this month forced the collapse of the government led by Saad Hariri, the pro-Western Sunni prime minister, after their ministers resigned from the coalition cabinet. The group, which is classed as a terrorist organisation by the US, has been locked in a standoff with Mr Hariri over a UN-backed investigation into the 2005 assassination of his father, the former premier Rafiq Hariri.

Hizbollah's growing clout was on show as its leader Hassan Nasrallah delivered a television address last night. He appears increasingly confident that Hizbollah would soon gain the parliamentary numbers needed to name a new prime minister of its choosing. At the end of last week Hizbollah gained the vital backing of Walid Jumblatt, the leader of Lebanon's Druze minority.

Talks on appointing a new premier are to start within days and Hizbollah is hoping to complete its rout of Mr Hariri by seeking to push a more pliant candidate – possibly Omar Karami, a pro-Syrian veteran of Lebanese politics. Mr Karami is a former prime minister who was forced from office during the Cedar Revolution of 2005.