Alwaght- Lebanon's parliament on Monday elected a Hezbollah ally, Michel Aoun, as president effectively ending a more than two-and-a-half-year leadership vacuum with the Saudi regime having no option but to accept the turn of events.

In Lebanon's power-sharing system, the post of prime minister is reserved for a Sunni Muslim, the president must be a Maronite Christian, and the parliament speaker must be a Shiite Muslim.

For several years now, the Saudi regime has been interfering and spreading negative influence in Lebanon to the detriment of the country's political stability.

There are several possible reasons that compelled the Saudi regime to retreat from its hardline position and accept Hezbollah's choice as Lebanese president.

Worry over Collapse of Taif Power Sharing Structure

First, there was a probability that, if the Lebanese president was not elected at this juncture, within the next six months the Taif Power Sharing Agreement in Lebanon would have been nullified. Therefore, to save the Taif power sharing structure from collapsing, the Saudi regime had no option but to concede and allow Aoun to be president.

Secondly, the internal Saudi power struggle has been drugged into Lebanese politics with reports indicating that King Salman differed with his Crown Prince, Muhammad bin Nayef over the situation in Lebanon.

Both Salman and Nayef disagrees with Aoun several issues but Nayef and Aoun have more frosty ties and pundits believe King Salman's approval of Aoun was meant to deal a blow to his crown prince.

Saudi concessions on the Lebanese president have also been impacted by the current state of the West Asia region where Riyadh is embroiled in Yemen and Syria. Therefore Lebanon is currently not a major priority for the Saudi regime. It's now over two month since the mission of the Saudi ambassador in Beirut has expired and Riyadh is yet to send a replacement.

US Influenced Saudi Decision on Lebanon

Another factor is that Saudi regime's master, the United States, is currently pursuing a strategy of relative stability in Lebanon and Iraq until the crisis in Syria is concluded.

Some Western sources are suggesting of a possible split between Aoun and Hezbollah but such a scenario is a distant possibility since Aoun has clearly stated that he backs the liberation of Lebanese Shebaa farms currently occupied by the Israeli regime. He has also declared support for�pre-emptive war on terrorists in Syria.

Finally by accepting Aoun's presidency which has been conditioned on Saad Hariri being appointed the prime minister, the Saudi regime hopes to use the latter to continue asserting its negative influence in Lebanon.

Hariri backs Saudi regime's interference in Syria through providing financial and military support to terrorists' hell bent on toppling President Bashar al-Assad. Indeed Hariri was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father was in charge the family's Oger construction firm.

Furthermore, Hariri is a dual citizen who also holds Saudi citizenship and loyal follower of the Saudi Arabia where his family currently lives.