Lebanese cautious on fate of political deal
BEIRUT (Reuters) - For Hassan Tabbara, the political deal that feuding Lebanese leaders signed on Wednesday is too little, too late.
The frail 60-year-old's wife and son got caught trying to escape fighting earlier this month between Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters and supporters of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition. They were killed. His twin sons, trying to reach their family, were also attacked and are in hospital.
"My son's brain was splattered all over the car. I don't care about a deal. My wife and son were martyred. I don't see any kind of future," Tabbara said at the American University Hospital where his sons were being treated.
Rival Lebanese leaders signed a deal on Wednesday to end 18 months of political conflict which led to frequent bouts of sectarian violence, the most recent of which killed 81 people.
Ordinary Lebanese were mostly cautious about the agreement, mindful of previous broken deals made during the 1975-90 civil war in which 150,000 people died.
"What was the price of this agreement? Innocent people were killed. I doubt the deal will last. They can elect a president but what guarantees do we have that the same thing won't happen again?" said Tabbara's sister-in-law, Nauf Baydoun, 43.
The deal, which was signed in Doha after six days of talks, includes the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, due to take place on Sunday.
The agreement also gives the opposition its long-standing demand for veto power in cabinet and resolved a disagreement over a law for the 2009 parliamentary election.
"The agreement is a good thing. If the politicians did it publicly, it means they're serious. They can lose a lot of credibility if it doesn't work out," said George Massabni, 56, an insurer in the Christian district of Ashrafiyeh.
"At least for now there will be a period of calm, until the next election and then there will be some repercussions."
This month's conflict was Lebanon's worst since the civil war and exacerbated sectarian tensions between Shi'ites loyal to pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Druze and Sunni loyalists of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition.
"This agreement is only ink on paper ... It's all just a movie. I'm not optimistic because the politicians are all liars," said Ahmed Nassabai, who works in an architectural firm in Ashrafiyeh.
Other Lebanese hoped the deal would spell a period of calm for the small Mediterranean country, too often an arena where proxy wars between regional and global powers are played out.
"Hopefully, everything will flourish. But the people here live day by day, there's always something," said 50-year-old civil servant Katya Khoury in Hamra, a mixed district which was also the scene of the latest fighting.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
