Dare I whisper to Syria? Israel Occupies YOUR Golan Heights
Elza S. Maalouf
Historically, Syria always played a major role in Lebanese politics and socio-economic affairs. Under Ottoman rule, Lebanon's small principalities and heads of districts had to report to the Governor of Akka (now Israel) and the Governor of Damascus (Syria). Unfortunately, not much has changed since then, the same context with a different content. Israel is now an 'enemy' state, however Syria is considered a 'brotherly' state and both states hold the future of Lebanon in their hands.
There was nothing brotherly about Syria's 30 year occupation of Lebanon. Their presence was marked by blatant abuse on all levels; an overt meddling in government affairs by Syrian politicians and army generals, 100s of innocent Lebanese detained in Syrian jails, assassinations of politicians and outspoken journalists, constant humiliation of Lebanese civilians by Syrian military. Women, men and children were constantly harassed at check points, in their homes and their workplaces. Syrian army generals deployed to Lebanon and politicians from the Alawit ruling minority amassed fortunes from the occupied country through questionable dealings in partnership with questionable Lebanese counterparts who were granted immunity and protection ...
An independent Lebanon with a sovereign government and a booming economy does not exist in Syrian eyes. It goes against Syria's ultimate ambition of re-establishing 'Greater Syria' that includes the Golan Heights that Syria lost to Israel in the 1967 war. It also includes Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and parts of Egypt and Turkey. According the Syrians the current borders with Lebanon, Jordan and Israel are not the internationally recognized borders, and as such they call them 'temporary regional' borders.
Since Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, diplomatic ties were abruptly severed by the Syrian regime. Today, for the first time (and to cease the moment) Syria's foreign minister Walid Moallem visited Lebanon and announced rhetorically to the press that he not only supports Hezbollah's war but that he "wants to be a soldier in Nasrallah's army." The question is why doesn't Syria fight its own war to reclaim ITS Golan Heights which includes the disputed Shebaa Farms region?? why does Moallem want to be a soldier in a Lebanese militant group to fight Israel??and why the 'sudden' infatuation with a Lebanon they helped weaken for 30 years?
The obvious answer is that Syria wants a seat at the negotiation table that is going to shape the future of the Middle East and the power centers in the region. Syria lost its seat as a power broker in the region when it couldn't control the flow of insurgents into Iraq and the passing of UN resolution 1559 that called on Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon. But in reality Syria never left Lebanon. With its withdrawal it empowered Hezbollah and helped solidify it as a state-within a state. Syria ran to Iran's arms when big brother and sister Saudi Arabia and Egypt supported the withdrawal from Lebanon and the UN investigation into Hariri's killing that implicated Syria's involvement.
It seems that now Syria has come back strongly from the brink of irrelevance!... thanks to Hezbollah's reckless disregard to the fledgling Lebanese unity and to Israel's unrestrained military actions that are not achieving their objectives of eliminating Hezbolla's military infrastructure. Hezbollah's guerrilla style war is defeating the IDF and its military prowess in ways that no Arab army was able to exhibit in previous wars with Israel.
The theatre of this regional unfolding drama is Lebanon as usual...and the victims are the innocent Lebanese. Let's try a different venue from now on: how about Damascus or Tehran??!!
There was nothing brotherly about Syria's 30 year occupation of Lebanon. Their presence was marked by blatant abuse on all levels; an overt meddling in government affairs by Syrian politicians and army generals, 100s of innocent Lebanese detained in Syrian jails, assassinations of politicians and outspoken journalists, constant humiliation of Lebanese civilians by Syrian military. Women, men and children were constantly harassed at check points, in their homes and their workplaces. Syrian army generals deployed to Lebanon and politicians from the Alawit ruling minority amassed fortunes from the occupied country through questionable dealings in partnership with questionable Lebanese counterparts who were granted immunity and protection ...
An independent Lebanon with a sovereign government and a booming economy does not exist in Syrian eyes. It goes against Syria's ultimate ambition of re-establishing 'Greater Syria' that includes the Golan Heights that Syria lost to Israel in the 1967 war. It also includes Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and parts of Egypt and Turkey. According the Syrians the current borders with Lebanon, Jordan and Israel are not the internationally recognized borders, and as such they call them 'temporary regional' borders.
Since Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, diplomatic ties were abruptly severed by the Syrian regime. Today, for the first time (and to cease the moment) Syria's foreign minister Walid Moallem visited Lebanon and announced rhetorically to the press that he not only supports Hezbollah's war but that he "wants to be a soldier in Nasrallah's army." The question is why doesn't Syria fight its own war to reclaim ITS Golan Heights which includes the disputed Shebaa Farms region?? why does Moallem want to be a soldier in a Lebanese militant group to fight Israel??and why the 'sudden' infatuation with a Lebanon they helped weaken for 30 years?
The obvious answer is that Syria wants a seat at the negotiation table that is going to shape the future of the Middle East and the power centers in the region. Syria lost its seat as a power broker in the region when it couldn't control the flow of insurgents into Iraq and the passing of UN resolution 1559 that called on Syria to end its military presence in Lebanon. But in reality Syria never left Lebanon. With its withdrawal it empowered Hezbollah and helped solidify it as a state-within a state. Syria ran to Iran's arms when big brother and sister Saudi Arabia and Egypt supported the withdrawal from Lebanon and the UN investigation into Hariri's killing that implicated Syria's involvement.
It seems that now Syria has come back strongly from the brink of irrelevance!... thanks to Hezbollah's reckless disregard to the fledgling Lebanese unity and to Israel's unrestrained military actions that are not achieving their objectives of eliminating Hezbolla's military infrastructure. Hezbollah's guerrilla style war is defeating the IDF and its military prowess in ways that no Arab army was able to exhibit in previous wars with Israel.
The theatre of this regional unfolding drama is Lebanon as usual...and the victims are the innocent Lebanese. Let's try a different venue from now on: how about Damascus or Tehran??!!
2 Comments:
Thank you for bringing light in a very complex and complicated situation. I don't read all the papers every day to be able to know the details of the middle east conflicts. So I like to hear from the people who know. One thing which should be obvious to every one though is that innocent lives are taken whitout anyone attaining any positive results.
Lets hope the explanations will trigger an epiphany in the mind of some of the responsibles, or even anyone, to come up with an idea to solve the situation.
'An independent Lebanon with a sovereign government' should be what Israël work toward in their fight against Hezbollah instead of a country in ruins which will only help the gorilla war. Why don't they see that? Havn't they heard of the war to end all wars? And did it??
If all the powers of the US and of Israël were to help strenghtening the ones in Libanon who hold that idea wouldn't it be more usefull than destruction.
Now that the country is half destroyed it may be late... or is it?
Hubert...It is not late. The resilience that Lebanese exhibited throughout the 'wars' is extraordinary.Lebanon will recover, I have no doubt. However this outageous use of power by Western countries is such a destructive paradigm that fails to address the long term problem of extremism; it is on the contrary helping strengthen fanatics and Jihadists.
Europe has to step in as a post-post modern Leader and empower the UN and the international community. EU cannot be passive anymore while criticizing the cowboy US or the wild Israel. Lebanon's problem is a world problem. This is the test of the 21st century. I hope Western world will pass it and the developing world will emerge from it a more accountable one.
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