7 - 13 March 2002
Issue No.576
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 7 - 13 March 2002 Issue No.576 |
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A special kind of relationship
A landmark visit by Syria's president to Lebanon seems to indicate that Damascus is beginning to see Beirut as an equal, writes Zeina Abu Rizk from Beirut
Syrian President Bashar Assad went to Lebanon on Sunday, in a historic visit which many saw as an indirect reply to critics of Syria's massive presence in Lebanon.
Bashar and Lahoud in a historical summit in Beirut on Sunday
(photo:AP)
The critics claim that Damascus does not consider Lebanon to be a sovereign, independent state.
Assad's decision to arrive by plane at Beirut International Airport, not taking the overland route like the thousands of nationals from both countries who stream through the Lebanon-Syria border every day, was in itself a significant move. It served to emphasise the state-to-state nature of the relationship between the two countries.
Assad is scheduled to visit Beirut again later this month to take part in the Arab summit scheduled for 27-28 March. So scheduling his visit ahead of the summit was meant to confirm its bilateral nature. The Syrian president seems to be indicating that he is serious about rebuilding ties between the two countries on the basis of mutual respect.
Syria has been heavily involved in Lebanon since the outbreak of the 15-year-long Lebanese civil war in 1976. International opposition to the continuing Syrian presence was muted after Damascus' support of the US-led alliance to liberate Kuwait from Iraqi occupation in 1991 meant a green light for Syria to become the dominant power in Beirut.
Since then, right-wing Christian parties have begun to vocally accuse Syria of running Lebanon from Damascus, and treating it as one of its provinces.
Within this context, observers generally agreed that Assad's visit to Lebanon marked the beginning of a new phase. It also seemed to confirm Assad's policy of openness and reform, which started last year with a partial redeployment of Syrian troops from Beirut and a number of other regions. The troops were re-stationed in the Bekaa valley at the Syrian- Lebanese border.
Assad's visit was a response to an official invitation by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud. It was only the third official visit by a Syrian president to the country since Lebanon's independence in 1943, after Chukri Qaoutali in 1947 and Assad's father, Hafez, in 1975.
An important number of senior Lebanese politicians, led by the president, gathered at the aerodrome to welcome their prestigious visitor. Upon arrival at Baabda presidential palace, the Lebanese and Syrian presidents held a noticeably lengthy tête-à-tête, which lasted for more than 90 minutes. The meeting was followed by a session of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Council, which included Syrian officials and their Lebanese counterparts.
The council meeting was, indeed, the visit's stated objective. The Higher Syrian-Lebanese Council, which was set up in the early 1990s, is an initiative aimed at reinforcing cooperation as well as enhancing the special relationship between the two states.
Despite the mainly bilateral nature of the visit, the ongoing violence in the occupied Palestinian territories and the recent announcement by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz of a new peace initiative, were inevitably on the agenda.
The Saudi peace proposal calls for a total Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands in return for the normalisation of Arab relations with Israel.
It had been widely reported that Syria and Lebanon held reservations about the initiative. and this was confirmed by a joint statement released during the visit. The statement did not include any explicit mention of Prince Abdullah's initiative. Instead, it quoted the two presidents as asserting that "any attempt to end the Arab-Israeli conflict should rely on the bases that help achieve a complete liberation of all occupied Arab lands, secure the right for Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, and allow the creation of an independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its capital."
Discussions in Baabda led to a series of economic measures. Syria agreed to assist Lebanon by including a generous gesture to cancel half of Lebanon's electricity debt to Damascus. The amount is estimated at about $56 million.
A working lunch ended the hectic day in Baabda, following which the Syrian delegation returned to Damascus -- this time by the conventional land route.
Local reactions to Assad's visit were positive, although tempered with caution in some political circles, particularly among Christians.
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, one of the main detractors from Damascus's presence in the country, welcomed the Syrian move. He insisted, however, that relations between Beirut and Damascus could truly be rectified only when a complete Syrian redeployment could be achieved. Only then could Lebanon regain its ability to make free political decisions, he said.
Many also wondered whether the visit would help reconcile relations between Damascus and the Christian community. Assad's visit to Lebanon was a reply to the long- standing Christian request for him to visit.
At a more local level, Assad's visit could help enhance internal dialogue between the Lebanese state and its opponents, as conflict between the two camps have often focused on relations with Syria.
According to the joint statement released by the presidential palace, Lahoud considered Assad's visit to be a reflection of "Syria's commitment to Lebanon's unity, security, sovereignty and Arabism." On his part, the Syrian president underlined "the need to develop and deepen the Syrian-Lebanese special relationship."
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