Lebanese lawmakers are due to meet on Thursday to elect a president, but analysts say that even with key political player Hezbollah weakened by war, white smoke is not guaranteed.

The tiny Mediterranean country, already deep in economic and political crisis, has been without a president for more than two years amid bitter divisions between Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah and its opponents.

Israel dealt Hezbollah's armed wing a serious blow during a two-month war this autumn and killed the group's influential leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Iran-backed group, accused by critics of blocking a parliamentary majority in a dozen previous bids to elect a new head of state, has also lost a key ally in neighbouring Syria since Islamist-led forces toppled president Bashar al-Assad last month.

But analysts say there was no indication that the 13th presidential vote planned for later this week will be any more productive.

"The Lebanese people still have no idea whether it will lead to the election of a president or whether it will end in failure," said Lebanese analyst Karim Bitar.

Under multi-confessional Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president........

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