There goes the neighborhood
July 31, 2005
Lebanese trucks stuck at the Syrian border.
Recent developments in Syrian-Lebanese relations have been very upsetting, but I haven't felt much like writing about them. For one, I keep hoping (quite unrealistically, obviously) that the troublemakers will come to their senses. For another, I have an article due on the subject in a few days anyway and keep postponing the inevitable. But in the past few days, things have just gone too far.
First, Syria has blocked the borders for weeks, effectively strangling Lebanon and leaving hundreds of Lebanese trucks stuck at the border, with their goods rotting in the sun. Several Lebanese fishermen were also apprehended by Syrian authorities.
Then the Syrians suddenly remembered the 37 poor workers killed in Lebanon in the aftermath of Rafik Hariri's assassination and just as abruptly demanded that the Lebanese government pay compensation to the victims' families. I found this sudden concern rather questionable; indeed, when these contemptible murders and other violent acts against innocent Syrians were committed, and while a number of Lebanese publications mentioned them, the Syrian government and its media, in contrast, didn't even deign to utter a word of condemnation, pretending all was well in Lebanon. As if Syrians weren't watching Lebanese and other channels via satellite!
Giving these wretched victims recognition is overdue, of course, but doesn't the Syrian regime think that it opens a huge can of worms? How many Lebanese (not to mention Syrians) would be in their full right to demand equal compensation for other offenses committed over the years?
Then, Syrian media - rather ridiculously - demanded from the Lebanese government an official apology for the 'insults" to Syria made by a relatively free press (the latter being a concept that is clearly alien to the Syrian authorities). Before apologies were made, no Lebanese prime minister should think of being welcomed in Damascus.
Finally, as if things weren't tense enough, Syria has upped the ante in a drastic manner. Without warning, the Syrian government has suddenly expelled hundreds of Lebanese employees from Syria, claiming their work permits had suddenly expired and demanding their immediate departure.
All these events have ensured that the few Lebanese who didn't yet resent the Syrian regime will now be livid, and the Lebanese who already managed to insult both the Syrian state and the people have become even more intransigent. On the Syrian side, people are despairing of the situation, sympathizing with the neighbors, but completely impotent, as always, to help anyone, least of all themselves.
Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's new prime minister, is due to visit Damascus on Sunday, having confidently predicted he would be able to solve these issues before returning to Beirut. For my part, I predict that the Syrian government-owned media will announce after his departure that Siniora duly apologized to Syria in the name of the Lebanese people (something the latter will surely not expect from him) and that brotherly relations with the sisterly country (or something like that) will now be restored because of Syria's magnanimity and good spirit (or something like that).
Even if we weren't to consider the interests of Lebanon, even if Syria were justified in feeling that this lèse-majesté may have gone too far, even if Lebanese media (those outside of Hariri's realm of influence, at least) could be controlled and restrained from criticizing the Syrian regime, I fail to see how any of the actions demanded and taken by Damascus can be in Syria's long-term interests. Unfortunately, Damascus seems to be cutting its nose to spite its face.
