(AKI) - The escalating political crisis in Lebanon over the election of a new president has been imposed on the country by its neighbours Iran and Syria, according to Lebanese defence and strategic analyst, Kassem M. Jafaar. It is "a crisis imposed from outside", which does not have its roots in Lebanon, but instead was "imported" into the country from Syria and Iran, according to Jafaar. The London-based defence analyst and commentator on Middle East affairs was speaking at a conference entitled "Fighting for Democracy in the Islamic World" in the Italian capital, Rome. Members of parliament in Lebanon postponed for the eighth time their vote to elect a new president on Monday. The pro-West ruling bloc and pro-Syrian opposition have reportedly agreed on army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, but are said to be divided on the make-up of the new government.
However Jafaar said that it is too "simplistic" to say that the issue of the presidential elections is due to "divisions among factions" and there's a need to look beyond the Lebanese borders, particularly at Damascus and Tehran.
Hezbollah, the party which many believe is behind the current crisis, "is a creation of Iran and Syria", according to Jafaar. The Lebanese Shiite movement "is useful to Iran to put its roots in Lebanon, exporting the Islamic revolution to the entire Muslim world. And it is useful for Syria to assert its influence on Beirut."