Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, won enough support to become Lebanon's next prime minister after a majority of lawmakers backed him for the post on Monday, a big blow to Hezbollah which accused opponents of working to exclude it.

With top general’s election, the United States and Saudi Arabia aim to draw Lebanon further from Iran. To do that, a new government has to convince Hezbollah that their days of armed resistance are over.

The weakening of Hezbollah in last year's war with Israel allowed Lebanon's long deadlocked parliament to reach consensus around a president who has the confidence of the international community.Deadlock in parliament between pro- and anti-Hezbollah blocs had stalemated a dozen previous attempts to elect a president,