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Syria's Shadow Still Looms Large Over Lebanon
BEIRUT (AFP) Three years after Syria ended its near 30-year military presence in Lebanon, Damascus stands accused of still pulling strings there and leaving its tiny neighbour
paralysed by political deadlock.
On April 26, 2005, Syria withdrew the last of its officials who had reigned as the true powerbrokers in Beirut, as the final 14,000 troops of a force which had once numbered 40,000 were
sent home.
The pullout was the result of international pressure and angry street demonstrations in Lebanon sparked by the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, an attack that many blamed on Syria.
Damascus denied all involvement in Hariri's death.
Syrian forces swept into Lebanon in 1976, a year after the outbreak of a bloody civil war which raged for 15 years until 1990 and left more than 150,000 people dead and
thousands more missing.
But despite withdrawing in 2005, Syria remains a powerful force in Lebanon, which is now struggling with a political vacuum left after former pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud stepped down when
his term ended last November.
Rival political factions remain deadlocked over the election of a successor, with 18 previous parliamentary sessions to find a replacement postponed amid claims Syria is blocking consensus
candidate and army chief Michel Sleiman.
The latest attempt to try to elect a new head of state was set on Saturday for May 13 by parliament speaker Nabih Berri, his spokesman said.
The row has pitted the
anti-Syrian ruling coalition, which primarily comprises Sunni, Christian and Druze factions, against the Hezbollah-led opposition consisting mostly of Shiite and Christian political groups.
The crisis has set Prime
Minister Fuad Siniora's government, which is backed by the West and Arab countries allied to Washington, particularly Egypt and Saudi Arabia, against the Hezbollah opposition, supported by Iran and Syria.
The opposition
considers the government illegitimate, parliament has not convened for 16 months, and Sleiman is also set to leave office as head of the army at the end of August, risking a void in the military leadership.
"Lebanon
has regained its sovereignty and built an independent state, but the current crisis, the closure of parliament, the attacks and the inability to elect a new president proves that Syrian influence has taken on a new form,"
according to Fares Said, a member of the ruling anti-Syrian coalition.
There has been a series of deadly attacks in Lebanon since 2004, usually against anti-Syrian figures.
Parliament, led by Berri who is also one
of the opposition leaders, has not been able to meet to pass legislation for more than a year.
"Syria no longer manages Lebanon's affairs but it does maintain a very important influence through its allies and
perhaps through its intelligence services," said Paul Salem, Middle East analyst at the Carnegie Centre Paul.
"The presumed presence of the intelligence services is less important in terms of effectiveness, but
it is no less dangerous."
According to majority MP Elias Atallah, Syrian interference "translates into the sending of funds, missiles and intelligence agents" to its allies.
Hezbollah, the principal
opposition group and the only Lebanese militia to have kept its weapons, is regularly accused of receiving arms supplies from Syria.
Atallah added that the "absence of a sovereign state" in Lebanon prevents the
application of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah and ordered the disarming of militias.
Salem added: "Until there is a sovereign state, Lebanon will continue
to be used as a battlefield for foreign powers."
He said that for a sovereign state to be established, "the Syrian-Israeli peace track must advance because Damascus has used Lebanon as a theatre to confront
Israel and the Jewish state has done the same" in its conflict with Syria.
"Syria wants to use Lebanon as a hostage to be used like money to be traded for political, security and economic favours, particularly
the dismissal of the international tribunal" charged with probing Hariri's death, Atallah charged.
But Damascus's allies within Lebanon reject such claims.
"Without a Syrian presence Lebanon will be
transformed into an American or Israeli base because of Mr Siniora and his allies," pro-Syrian former environment minister Wiam Wahhab said.
"Some Lebanese people portray themselves as hostile to Damascus on
Saudi-American orders, but most want good relations with Syria," he added.
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