Insight - In unexpected twist, Assad ally may be Lebanon's next president

Suleiman Franjieh raises his hands to a jubilant crowd gathered at Central Beirut December 3, 2006. REUTERS/Khalil Hassan/Files

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's political crisis has taken a dramatic turn with the possibility that a friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could become president in a power-sharing deal aimed at breathing life back into the paralysed state.

The idea of Suleiman Franjieh, a childhood friend of Assad, becoming head of state has taken aback many Lebanese, not least because of who tabled it: Saad al-Hariri, a Sunni politician who leads an alliance forged from opposition to Syrian influence in Lebanon. He would become prime minister under the deal.