Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA)
March 7, 2005, Monday
Q&A: What is Syria’s role in Lebanon?
Since the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Rafik Hariri, the popular
opposition leader and Lebanon’s former prime minister, thousands of
Lebanese have poured into the streets to protest Syria’s military
presence in their small Mediterranean country. The world, too, has
turned its attention to Syria’s role there. Correspondent Annia
Ciezadlo looks at the historical roots of the tension between these
two countries.
Q: Why is Syria in Lebanon?
A: The short answer: Syria was invited by Lebanese Christians in 1976
to stop a brewing civil war. But even with 27,000 Syrian troops in
Lebanon, the war that started as skirmishes between Muslims and
Christians continued for 15 years. It eventually involved the
country’s other religious factions, the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), Israel, and the United States.
While Syria intervened on the side of the Christians, it switched
allegiances to Yasser Arafat’s PLO, which was using Lebanon as a base
to attack Israel, and the PLO’s Arab nationalist allies, mostly
Muslim and Druze. In the end, Syria aligned itself with the Shiite
Amal and Hizbullah parties. Because Syria is now the main power
broker in Lebanon, these parties have an advantage in the constant
shuffling of Lebanon’s balance of power.
But the long answer to Syrian involvement in Lebanon – like many
issues in the Middle East – goes back to the breakup of the Ottoman
Empire. After World War I, when the European victors divided the
Ottoman territories, the French ended up with what was then called
Greater Syria, which encompassed Syria and Lebanon. The French,
aligned with the Maronite Christians (originally followers of a
4th-century Syrian hermit priest named Maron) of Lebanon and created
an autonomous region for the Maronites in their ancestral home of
Mount Lebanon.
To give Lebanon greater economic viability, the French combined the
predominantly Muslim Bekaa Valley and the ancient coastal cities with
the mostly Christian enclave of Mount Lebanon.
Q: How many religious groups are in Lebanon?
A: The main religious groups are Christian, Muslim, and Druze. Druze
is a secretive sect that some maintain is an offshoot of Islam, but
that also incorporates a belief in reincarnation. These religions are
further subdivided into 18 sects; each gets a certain number of seats
in Parliament under Lebanon’s confessional system. The major
subdivisions among the Muslims are Shiites and Sunnis; among the
Christians they are Maronites, Armenian Catholics, Greek Catholics,
and Greek Orthodox.
Q: What is a confessional system?
A: As of Lebanon’s last official census in 1932, Lebanon was about 51
percent Christian and 49 percent Muslim. When Lebanon declared
independence from France in 1943, this balance was enshrined in the
National Pact, a covenant of understanding that Parliament would have
a 6 to 5 Christian majority, with a Christian president, Sunni prime
minister, and a Shiite speaker of parliament. Because Muslims became
the majority by about the 1950s, the parliamentary makeup caused
political tensions. The Taif Accord changed the Parliament’s ratio to
50/50, but the executive branch remains the same.
Q: Why hasn’t Syria left after all these years?
A: The Syrian government claims that Lebanon needs its troops to
ensure stability. Experts say reasons for maintaining its grip on
Lebanon are economic and political: Syrian guest workers, estimated
at 500,000 to 1 million, send home millions of dollars each year.
Politically, Lebanon is useful to Syria in its efforts to regain the
Golan Heights, territory that was occupied by Israel in 1967.
However, Syria has reduced its troop levels from 40,000 in 2000 to
14,000 today.
Q: What role does Israel play in the tension between Lebanon and
Syria?
A: The Shiite militia Hizbullah is fighting an intermittent guerrilla
border war with Israel over a contested area called Shebaa Farms,
which is Israeli-held territory that the Lebanese government and
Hizbullah claim as Lebanese. But while Israel and Hizbullah skirmish
over Shebaa Farms, the UN has determined it to be part of the Golan
Heights – meaning Syrian territory that is occupied by Israel.
Because of this, many Lebanese feel that Syria is fighting a proxy
war with Israel on Lebanese soil.
Q: What is Hizbullah? How does it factor into Syria’s involvement in
Lebanon?
A: Hizbullah (which means “Party of God” in Arabic) is a Shiite
Muslim militia founded in 1982 after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
Originally established with help from Iran’s elite Revolutionary
Guards, Hizbullah’s initial goals were to expel Israel from Lebanon
and establish an Islamic state similar to that in Iran. Hizbullah is
widely believed to be responsible for the 1983 suicide bombing of the
US Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241 US service members.
>>From 1982 to 2000, Hizbullah fought a guerrilla war against the
Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon. When Israeli troops withdrew
in May 2000, many in Lebanon and the Arab world credited Hizbullah
with achieving the first Arab military victory against Israel. But
for years, Hizbullah has also been building a network of schools,
hospitals, and social services that have won it a political
following. The US considers Hizbullah a terrorist organization; so
far, despite American pressure, the European Union does not.
Q: Is what’s happening in Iraq, and other democratic reforms in the
Middle East, important to the anti-Syrian groups in Lebanon?
A: Most of the demonstrators who contributed to bringing down
Lebanon’s government cite the spontaneous revolutions that have swept
former Soviet satellite states, in particular in Georgia and Ukraine,
which were broadcast live on Al Jazeera and other Arabic channels. In
a way, Lebanon has a lot more in common with these countries than
with Iraq, Egypt, or Saudi Arabia because it has a free press and a
vibrant political opposition. Lebanon is the most democratic of all
the Arab countries.
Q: Why was Rafik Hariri’s death a tipping point?
A: The unexpected and shocking death of Mr. Hariri, the popular
businessman and well-connected politician, catalyzed a crisis that
was slowly heating up within Lebanon before his death brought it
international attention. Before his killing, the anti-Syrian
opposition was coming under increasing attack from the pro-Syrian
Lebanese government, which was threatening to prosecute two key
opposition leaders. Many people believe the prosecutions were
politically motivated, meant to eliminate opposition figures before
Lebanon’s spring parliamentary elections.
Q: Why are many of the protest signs in English?
A: Lebanon has always been a cosmopolitan, multilingual country.
Today, it’s not unusual for Beirutis to speak English, French, and
Arabic. But there’s another reason for all the English signs: the
demonstrators’ media savvy and their eagerness to reach the world.
Q: Is Lebanon at risk of slipping back into civil war if Syria
removes its troops?
A: Old resentments still simmer, but most Lebanese are much more
concerned about high unemployment and civil liberties like freedom of
speech. There’s another important difference: Throughout the civil
war, Syria, Iran, Libya, Israel, and other regional players funneled
arms and money to the various militias to keep their proxy wars
burning. Today, that level of outside involvement is unlikely.
Sources: “From Beirut to Jerusalem” by Thomas Friedman, Farrar Straus
Giroux, 1989; “Pity the Nation: Lebanon at War” by Robert Fisk, Andre
Deutsch, 1990; “The Vanished Imam: Musa Al Sadr and the Shia of
Lebanon” by Fouad Ajami, Cornell University Press, 1986; The Daily
Star.