BEIRUT, 20 November 2003 — Talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Lebanese counterpart Emile Lahoud in Damascus showed once again that Syria is the sole arbiter of Lebanese affairs at a time of high tension in the Middle East.
The talks on Tuesday came as Lebanon edges toward a political crisis amid a very public power struggle between Lahoud and Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri — a situation that is causing grave concern in Damascus.
Assad, quoted by the SANA news agency, said after the talks his country “stands by Lebanon’s side to consolidate its national unity and help face the threats against Syria and Lebanon”.
But Lebanese newspapers yesterday said that Syria’s real message to Beirut at the talks was blunter — resolve the domestic political differences and show solidarity amid the deepening troubles in the Middle East and intensifying pressure from Washington.
“Damascus does not want a new Cabinet in Lebanon. Lahoud and Hariri are condemned to agree,” said the French language newspaper L’Orient-Le Jour, saying there was now no chance that the Lebanese premier would be forced to step down.
“Give a new push to the current government, end the differences between officials, sort out the domestic situation and reactivate the treaty of friendship and cooperation between the two countries — this was the outcome of the meetings that presidents Emile Lahoud and Bashar Assad... held yesterday in Damascus,” it added. Syria dominates Lebanon politically and militarily, with almost 20,000 troops stationed in its smaller neighbor, while the two countries signed a key treat of cooperation and friendship in 1991.
The daily An-Nahar said that the meeting between Lahoud and Assad showed that Damascus would “do what is needed to calm things down” in Lebanon and that Beirut had to show “solidarity” due to the situation in the Middle East.
Syria is currently under crushing diplomatic pressure from Washington, which accuses Damascus of supporting terrorist groups and seeking weapons of mass destruction.
US President George W. Bush is expected to sign legislation soon providing for sanctions against Damascus, while Israel has threatened to repeat its Oct. 5 air raid against an alleged Palestinian training camp in Syria.
Against this background, Syria wants to avert a political crisis in its neighbor and ally, looming as prime minister and president remain at loggerheads over a number of issues, most notably Hariri’s proposals for liberal economic reforms.
Hardly a day goes by without new speculation about the fate of Hariri, with some sources close to Lahoud claiming the president wants to force his prime minister’s resignation and end what has been an uncomfortable “cohabitation”.
“Domestic conflicts in Lebanon serve no-one,” warned Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam on Monday. But he denied that Damascus was guilty in interfering in Lebanon’s affairs of state.
“People think that we interfere in the slightest details of Lebanese politics but we think that that domestic Lebanese differences have to be resolved within Lebanese institutions,” he added. This, however, belies the fact that the political paralysis in Beirut meant Syria intervened directly at the end of October to ensure Lebanon’s budget, which deputies were still debating at the time, was swiftly approved.
