International controversy over the Syrian military presence in Lebanon seems no nearer resolution, writes Mohalhel Fakih from Beirut The countdown to the 2 October United Nations Security Council deadline outlawing "foreign" interference in Lebanon looms, with the US, Europe, and most recently certain Arab countries piling pressure on Beirut and Damascus to change course. The UN is demanding a withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, as part of a package of changes that the Lebanese and Syrian governments are so far resisting. "Lebanon considers the Syrian military presence on its territory a legitimate factor which helps reinforce stability in the region," President Lahoud said on Monday. He told a Syrian military delegation that congratulated him on his extended stay in office that Syria and Lebanon will stand up to international pressure, a message he repeated to a visiting British parliamentary group. According to Lahoud, the US- and French- sponsored Security Council Resolution 1559 will not be implemented until other UN resolutions stipulating the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the end of Israeli occupation of Arab lands have been enforced and a comprehensive Arab-Israeli settlement has been sealed. Lebanese president saw his mandate extended by parliament for three more years only hours after a stern Security Council warning to Syria not to push for an amendment of Lebanon's constitution, which at the time banned the same president from serving two consecutive terms. "The best remedy to international pressure on Lebanon and Syria is to reconsider the constitutional amendment and hold free elections," said Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who heads a 17-member bloc in parliament, all of whom voted against the amendment of the constitution. They were joined in their opposition by 12 other deputies, mainly Christian Maronite opposition figures, but also some Muslims. Jumblatt is now coordinating with other parties and groups who wish to join the "battle to defend the constitution... and rectify Syrian-Lebanese ties". Jumblatt, once a staunch ally of Syria, has distanced himself from outside pressure and remains non- committal on joining a new government after his three allies, plus a fourth minister, resigned in protest over the parliamentary decision, forcing Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to confirm that his government would step down after 20 September. "I'm going to resign before the end of the month, that is for sure," said Hariri, speaking in Barcelona as he accepted a "special citation" of the UN Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for his efforts to reconstruct Lebanon following the 1975-1990 civil war. An arch rival of Lahoud, Hariri had strongly opposed extending the president's mandate. "The Lebanese learned the hard way that war and conflict would not lead anywhere; they only lead to destruction. They learned that the common ground they have with each other is much greater than their differences," Hariri told the press, as he sought to downplay internal divisions over the presence of Syrian troops. There are now two distinct political camps within Lebanon, nevertheless. One supports Syria's continued influence and the extension of Lahoud's mandate as justified by "Israeli threats", while the other opposes both these policies. This second group brings together politicians and movements as varied as Jumblatt, the Maronite opposition factions belonging to the Quornet Shehwan Gathering which is supported by Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, certain Muslim deputies such as Mosbah Ahdab, and leftists led by Muslim Shia opposition figure Habib Sadek. The opposition is drafting a joint programme of action. According to Nassib Lahoud, a cousin of the president who is also a political enemy, there will be a "battle for the defence of the constitution, democracy, freedoms and the clarification of Syrian-Lebanese ties." Nassib Lahoud is coordinating efforts with Jumblatt, who has kept silent on whether he would be prepared to join a reshuffled government, or even a brand new one, although both men made clear that they supported Syrian and Lebanese policy on the Middle East. Meanwhile, Hariri himself has not yet confirmed whether or not he would be willing to return to office. President Lahoud still has strong backing from Hizbullah, who favour a continuing Syrian military presence. Without explicitly naming the group, Resolution 1559 effectively calls for Hizbullah to be disarmed. The president can also count on the support of a number of political heavyweights such as Health Minister Suleiman Franjieh. "God help the Christians if they follow [Jumblatt]," Franjieh said. A Maronite himself, and always high on the list of possible contenders for the presidency, the health minister told reporters that he and other supporters of Syria will "remain faithful until the end" to "the Syrian line", and lashed out at those he said "switched at the first curve". The head of Franjieh's church, Patriarch Cardinal Sfeir, has been a vocal critic of Syria. He accused Damascus of interfering in Lebanese affairs, encouraging corruption, and stripping the country of its sovereignty. "The Security Council saw that a foreign country was interfering in Lebanese affairs. The reason it intervened was to put an end to such foreign interference," Sfeir told the US-run SAWA radio station. Lebanon had denied reports that Syria was preparing a major redeployment of its troops in the face of pressure. Information Minister Michel Smaha said the country could actually "shield" itself "through a sovereign decision for redeployment in another way", if it should find itself facing danger. At a joint news conference with Smaha in Damascus, his Syrian counterpart rejected Resolution 1559 as unfair intervention and was upbeat about US-Syrian dialogue following a trip by William Burns, the US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. On Saturday Burns met President Bashar Assad and said it was time for Syria to exit Lebanon. He expressed "deep concern over Syrian intervention" in Lebanon's political process, but Ahmed Hassan, the Syrian information minister, described the talks as positive. Hassan said there was agreement to launch "deep dialogue", citing coordination on Iraqi-Syrian border security. Damascus was the focus of American criticism for allegedly allowing anti-US fighters to enter Iraq in the aftermath of the US invasion, and is now suffering American sanctions in part due to Iraq, but also because of its military presence in Lebanon. According to media reports from Washington, the US House of Representatives late on Monday approved another resolution strongly denouncing Damascus's human rights record and calling for an end to Syria's "occupation" of Lebanon. The Lebanese information minister charged Washington with attempting "to nationalise the Palestinians, threaten Lebanese stability and hit the Palestinians on Palestinian territory" through the adoption of the Security Council resolution. There is also pressure from Paris. "Syria can exert its influence to unblock things and it is preferable that concrete steps be taken before 3 October to unblock the situation in Lebanon," French Senator Philippe Marini said in Damascus. Marini, who chairs the Franco-Syrian friendship group in the French upper house, reminded reporters that "without France there would have been no Paris II," a reference to the 2002 international donors conference hosted by President Jacques Chirac in support of Prime Minister Hariri's economic and financial reform programme. The plan that emerged from the conference was underpinned by international low-interest loans, and has since been frozen, due to political disagreements with Lahoud who has opposed privatisation measures. Meanwhile in Cairo, Lebanon and Syria were seeking Arab backing. But hours before foreign ministers convened for an Arab League meeting, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states voiced support for Resolution 1559. Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, head of the GCC's Council of Ministers, said in Jeddah that "the Council supports internationally legitimate resolutions, including the last decision issued by the Security Council, calling for the withdrawal of all forces from Lebanon." Jordan also called for the UN decision to be addressed, warning it would be "unwise" simply to disregard it. Egypt's presidential spokesman Majed Abdel-Fattah said ignoring the UN resolution "would open the door to another intervention by the Security Council". But Algeria backed Beirut, saying the resolution amounted to "interference in Lebanese affairs". To avoid divisions, the Arab League drafted a resolution which, according to a copy that was obtained by the media ahead of the meeting, offered "solidarity" with Lebanon "in its sovereign right to make domestic decisions in accordance with its constitutional principles" and in ties with "Syria and all other brotherly Arab states". It did not refer to the Security Council Resolution, which gave Lebanon a one-month period before Secretary General Kofi Annan reports on compliance, after which Beirut and Damascus may be subject to "additional measures". "Peace is the shortest path to achieving what has been called the liberation of Lebanon and its sovereignty," Foreign Minister Jean Obeid commented ahead of the Cairo meeting. He warned of attempts to "divide Lebanon and Syria", and to cause "a clash between the resistance and Lebanon", in reference to calls to disarm Hizbullah and to send Lebanese Army troops to patrol the border with Israel which was vacated by the occupying troops as long ago as May 2000. Lebanon is accustomed to rancorous politics, but not to the current international outpouring of scorn. "Lebanon is not isolated," Prime Minister Hariri told reporters in Spain ahead of meetings with senior officials in Madrid and Brussels. "If we are facing some problems these days, we can overcome these problems through dialogue and through our friends in the world," Hariri said.
