Hezbollah Chooses Lebanon’s Next Prime Minister

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A prime minister chosen by Hezbollah and its allies was poised Monday to form Lebanon’s next government, unleashing angry protests, realigning politics here and in parts of the Mideast and culminating the generation-long ascent of the Shiite Muslim movement from shadowy militant group to the country’s pre-eminent political and military force.

A practical impact may be the realignment of Lebanon away from the United States, which treated the government of Saad Hariri as an ally. Hezbollah and its own allies now have the votes to back as prime minister Najib Miqati, a billionaire and former prime minister. The government he forms may in the end look much like past cabinets in this small Mediterranean country and, indeed, Mr. Miqati struck a conciliatory tone, calling himself a consensus candidate.

But the symbolism of Hezbollah choosing the country’s prime minister was vast, potentially serving as the beginning of a new era for a combustible country whose conflicts have long entangled the United States, Iran, Syria and virtually every country in the region.

By nightfall, angry opponents of Hezbollah took to the streets in Beirut, Tripoli and other cities, burning tires, shouting slogans and offering at least an image of what many feared that Hezbollah’s victory might unleash: strife among communities in a country almost evenly divided over questions of foreign patrons, posture to Israel and the relative power of Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims, represented by Hezbollah, and its Sunni opponents.

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