BEIRUT - Backed by most of Lebanon's major communities and their international patrons, former army chief of staff Michel Suleiman ascended to the presidency of this volatile Mediterranean country yesterday.

The Maronite Christian general, 60, took the oath of office amid high hopes that he would help heal the country's festering political rift between the US- and Saudi-backed government and the opposition, led by Hezbollah, the Iranian and Syrian-backed Shi'ite militant and political movement.

Suleiman's election by lawmakers, viewed as a temporary fix to a months-long political crisis, came days after Hezbollah gunmen stormed West Beirut and subsequently won an agreement that it remain armed and have enough Cabinet seats to veto major government decisions.

Many people hope, however, that Suleiman, with strong ties both to Hezbollah and the support of the Western-leaning March 14 movement, will be able to pull the country together.

Fierce bursts of celebratory gunfire erupted throughout the capital after the parliamentary vote and fireworks filled the night sky.

"I call on you all, political forces and citizens, to build a Lebanon we all agree on, setting the interests of Lebanon above our individual interests," Suleiman told lawmakers and assembled dignitaries in a televised address. "We paid a dear price for our national unity. Let's preserve it."

Present in the parliamentary chamber were officials representing all the major foreign powers that have tried to resolve the crisis, including a delegation of US lawmakers and the foreign ministers of Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and France. All consider Lebanon part of their cultural, economic, and political sphere of influence.

Hezbollah and its allies crippled the government by pulling out of the Cabinet and setting up protest tents around the capital in late 2006. They demanded veto power over government decisions. The crisis deepened last November when President Emile Lahoud's term expired without a successor. Hezbollah's audacious military takeover of West Beirut this month, after a Cabinet decision that scrutinized the group's telecommunications and intelligence assets, ultimately forced the government to grant it the veto power it coveted.

The situation in Lebanon exacerbated smoldering tensions between Washington and Tehran. But with Suleiman's ascent comes a rare example of detente. Both the United States and Iran have been fighting for influence over Lebanon through political proxies but backed Suleiman for president, a largely ceremonial position but key to the functioning of the government.

The vote for Suleiman also could result in a diplomatic breakthrough between Syria and Lebanon. Syria's foreign minister, Walid Moallem, sitting next to his Iranian counterpart, Manoucher Mottaki, was the first Syrian official to visit Lebanon since his country's troops were forced to vacate under international pressure in 2005. His presence was a possible sign of rapprochement between the countries.

Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who brokered the deal involving Hezbollah that ended the crisis, received a round of applause, a sign of that country's growing diplomatic stature in the face of diminished US and Saudi clout.

Lebanese of all political and religious stripes praised Suleiman's rise. Giant portraits of the popular general loomed over squares in Christian as well as Muslim quarters in cities and the countryside. Red, white, and green Lebanese flags hung from street lamps in display of patriotic fervor.

Under Lebanon's power-sharing system, a Christian serves as president while a Sunni serves as the more powerful prime minister and a Shi'ite as head of Parliament. Suleiman must confer with Parliament to appoint a Cabinet that will last until parliamentary elections next year.

The agreement swept under the rug what many analysts consider the underlying causes of Lebanon's strife, including a rising Shi'ite population and political clout and a power-sharing system that bolsters the power of community leaders over national interests.

It also failed to mention Hezbollah's status as an armed political force sometimes overshadowing the power of the Lebanese state in its stated mission to confront Israeli and US supremacy over the region.

Suleiman is from a prominent Christian family that has produced powerful officials including an ambassador and a governor.

In the army, Suleiman served as a field commander who managed to refrain from taking sides in Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.