Syria must leave Lebanon
(Filed: 17/02/2005)
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Syria's radical politics and backward economy have not stopped it from being considered a key player in the Middle East. The attention it received from the shuttle diplomacy of Henry Kissinger and Warren Christopher in the 1970s and 1990s reflected its value in American eyes as a means of reconciling Israelis and Arabs and containing Saddam Hussein. Hafiz al-Assad held court to foreign plenipotentiaries without having to abandon his basic tenets.

His son, Bashar, lacks such finesse. The "Damascus spring" that followed his accession to power in 2000 soon gave way to further repression. Policy-making has since been paralysed by differences between would-be reformers and hardliners, to the extent that Syria now finds itself extraordinarily weak and isolated. The return of the Golan Heights has long been off the negotiating table. The protectorate established in Lebanon since the civil war is under attack as never before. It is a measure of Damascus's desperation that yesterday it announced a common front with its old ally, Iran.

The Syrians now face an extension of sanctions already imposed by Washington under the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Acts. Mr al-Assad may have partially redeemed himself with the Bush Administration after September 11, 2001, by co-operating on intelligence, but he has since fallen out of favour by continuing to sponsor terrorism, for providing a safe haven for Iraqi Ba'athists and for failing to seal his eastern border against jihadi infiltration. The assassination of Rafik al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister, has become a focus of protest against Syrian domination of its neighbour, a campaign backed by the American Congress, then taken up by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 1559.

Damascus argues that its presence is necessary to prevent a relapse into confessional conflict. While it is true that the deep fault lines in Lebanese society remain, it should be possible to implement the National Covenant of 1943 without a foreign presence that is politically repressive and economically exploitative. The approach of parliamentary elections in May is a reminder that for Lebanese politicians to take their orders from Damascus is a glaring anomaly in a region where democratic polls have recently been held for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority and the Iraqi National Assembly. Stagnant Syria is lucky to have held sway over Lebanon for so long. The killing of Mr Hariri on its watch has quickened the pace of revolt against its unwarranted hegemony.