Syria Recognizes Lebanon's Sovereignty After 60 Years

Syria and Lebanon established diplomatic relations on Oct. 15, some 60 years after gaining independence from France in the mid-1940s.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, who signed the declaration jointly with Syrian Foreign Minister Waleed al-Muallem, said Lebanese-Syrian relations were friendlier than ever.

Syrian politicians, along with a majority of their Lebanese counterparts, say the exchange of embassies is only a formality between the two brotherly states. This may be so, but the fact remains that Syria has never considered Lebanon a sovereign state. On the other hand, it saw Lebanon as an inalienable part of "Greater Syria," which once included the territory of modern Lebanon.

It is true that Syria has played a positive role in Lebanon's recent history, in particular during the 1975-1990 civil war. It deployed 35,000 soldiers to Lebanon to disengage the warring sides and prevent the country's disintegration. However, the Syrians did not leave after the civil war ended, but remained in Lebanon "to keep the peace" until 2005.

This is why some Lebanese see their "Syrian brothers" as liberators, while others curse them as occupiers. Moreover, the ruling Lebanese clans have changed their attitude toward Syria more than once, at times seeing them as friends, and other times as enemies.

Bilateral relations were most recently shattered after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. The West immediately blamed the murder on Syria's military intelligence chief, Assef Shawkat, and declared a boycott of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Syria's isolation lasted until French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared, at the Mediterranean Union Summit held in Paris last July and attended by the Syrian president, that Syria and Lebanon should establish diplomatic relations.

However, the two countries reconciled only when Lebanon elected a new president, Michel Suleiman, a figure of compromise between the pro-Western majority in parliament – the Mustaqbal movement led by Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Rafik Hariri – and the opposition Hezbollah movement, backed by Syrian and Iranian Shiites.

This compromise has cost the pro-Western forces in Lebanon dearly, given that, at a meeting in Doha last May, they gave the opposition the right to veto bills. At the same time, a national unity government of 30 ministers was formed, in which 16 represent the ruling coalition, 11 the opposition, and three are appointed by the president.

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Neighbours to build diplomatic ties

Lebanon's foreign minister said he expects diplomatic ties with Syria to be fully established and ambassadors to be exchanged within two months. Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said the Cabinet will give its approval on the diplomatic ties on Thursday. Later, it will issue a separate decree for an embassy in Syria, he said. Mr Salloukh spoke two days after the presidents of Lebanon and Syria agreed to establish full diplomatic ties for the first time since the two countries gained independence from France more than 60 years ago.

The two countries also agreed to negotiate the demarcation of their border, a long standing demand of the Lebanese as they seek to normalise relations with their dominant larger neighbour.

The agreements on diplomatic ties and the border were announced during a landmark visit by President Michel Suleiman to Damascus for talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad. It was the first visit by a Lebanese head of state in three years.

Lebanon elects new president

Lebanon's parliament on Sunday elected army commander General Michel Suleiman as president.

All sides had agreed to back General Suleiman as part of a deal reached in Doha, Qatar. Qatari leadership and the Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa helped the Lebanese political parties develop national reconciliation.

The government and the opposition arrived at a deal on Wednesday after days of talks in Qatar. Under the agreement, the opposition will have the power of veto in a new cabinet of national unity

Lebanon crisis deepens

A sudden flare-up of street violence in Beirut appears to have broken an 18-month political impasse between the Western-backed government and the opposition, led by the militant Shiite Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said Thursday that the pro-Western government has declared 'war' on his militant group.

This is a turning point. There can be no more cohabitation between the government and the opposition. All trust is gone," says Amal Saad Ghorayeb, a Lebanese political analyst and expert on Hezbollah "The state is going to be the focus of the struggle, symbolically and practically as well."

The showdown was triggered by a dispute over Hezbollah's private telephone network, with the government declaring the network illegal earlier this week.

"The decision is tantamount to a declaration of war ... on the resistance and its weapons in the interest of America and Israel," said Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in a news conference aired live on television Thursday. "Those who try to arrest us, we will arrest them. Those who shoot at us, we will shoot at them. The hand raised against us, we will cut it off."

The coming days could decide which vision of Lebanon ultimately triumphs – a liberal, Western-friendly, free-market economy and tourist hub catering to wealthy Arabs; or a key component of a regional alliance that seeks to confront Israel and thwart Western influence in the Middle East.

Many analysts predicted that the stalemate would continue for many more months as neither side could afford a confrontation that could lead to civil war.

On Wednesday, Sheikh Rashid Qabbani, the highest Sunni authority in Lebanon, used unusually harsh words to denounce Hezbollah as a "gang of outlaws," warning that Sunnis "have had enough."

Tensions in Lebanon have erupted on the streets before, but each time the rival leaderships have pulled back from the brink. This time, however, both sides appear determined to proceed along their perilous paths. "It's a showdown. No one can back down," says a European diplomat.

Hezbollah's telecom network

It has been known for some time that Hezbollah has installed a private non-commercial fiber-optic land-line telephone network to provide secure communications between its leaders and the cadres. The network is extensive, stretching from Hezbollah's headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut to south Lebanon. Since the summer 2006 war with Israel, the system has spread further into the Bekaa Valley in the east and even into mainly Christian and Druze areas of the Mount Lebanon district, according to Marwan Hamade, the minister of telecommunications and a close ally of Mr. Jumblatt.

On Tuesday, after a marathon cabinet session, the government announced that Hezbollah's private network was "illegal and unconstitutional" and referred the file to the judiciary and the United Nations. The UN Security Cabinet is scheduled to discuss Thursday the latest report on the implementation of Resolution 1559, which includes a clause calling for the dismantling of "all Lebanese and non-Lebanese armed groups," a reference to Hezbollah and militant Palestinian factions.

The government also launched an investigation into the alleged monitoring of Beirut airport and dismissed the head of airport security, who is close to Mr. Berri. Hezbollah reacted angrily to the cabinet decisions.

The showdown hit the streets on Wednesday when a general strike to protest rising prices swiftly turned into a confrontation between supporters of rival factions. Hezbollah has set up barricades on the highway connecting the city center to Beirut airport and vow to remain until the government withdraws its cabinet decisions.

Christian Science Monitor

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Heavy fighting broke out between government supporters and their opponents in northern Lebanon. The heaviest clashes took place in the northern city of Tripoli, where pro-government supporters in the Tebaneh neighborhood exchanged rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine gun fire with opposition followers in Jabal Muhsin.

The fighting in the north intensified in the early hours on Sunday, but the situation calmed down later as Lebanese troops began deploying.

Meanwhile, west Beirut, a Muslim-majority area, has been mostly calm since Hezbollah and its allies seized control of many neighborhoods on Friday from Sunnis loyal to the government. In Bekaa Valley in the east, sporadic clashes took place between the two groups in different towns and villages. The road leading to the main border crossing point with Syria was still closed by pro-government supporters in retaliation for the opposition's closure of the airport road.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made a key concession to the Hezbollah-led opposition in a speech on Saturday, however, and the army, widely seen as a neutral force in Lebanon, afterward called for Hezbollah gunmen to withdraw from the streets of Beirut and reopen blocked roads. Most Hezbollah fighters complied, leaving just a handful of its armed allies on the streets.

The army offered Hezbollah a compromise, saying the airport security chief would retain his post and recommending that the government reverse the decision on the phone network.

That proposal - quickly embraced by both government leaders and the opposition - sharply underscored the Lebanese Army's role as the one national institution seen as neutral here. Many have feared that the army would fragment along sectarian or political lines, as it did during Lebanon's 15-year civil war.

In this crisis, as in others, the army stood passively by, unwilling to be seen as taking sides, even when street battles were taking place. Still, the army's proposal is likely to enhance the political prospects of its leader, General Michel Suleiman, who appears to be the only man both political camps are willing to accept as Lebanon's next president.

IHT.com