Etienne Sakr: The Politics and Liberation of Lebanon
[Etienne Sakr, known as Abu Arz, was born in the village of Ayn Ebel in south Lebanon. Sakr founded the Guardians of the Cedars Party in 1975 and initiated the Lebanese Front in 1976. From 1989-90, he was associated with General Michel Aoun and the "war of liberation" against Syrian occupation, founding the Broad Front for Liberation and Change. His Guardians of the Cedars Party was, however, not involved in the military struggle that ensued between General Aoun and Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea. It was a sacred Guardians principle not to engage in fighting against fellow Lebanese. Since May 2000, Etienne Sakr has been in exile.]
For 30 years, political events in Lebanon were dominated by Syrian occupation until 2005, when the Syrian army withdrew under international pressure. Yet the national future of Lebanon remains clouded in doubt and tension, as acts of terror against anti-Syrian elements continue, the March "Cedar Revolution" is stymied, and the country totters between freedom and political paralysis and breakdown.
Events in Lebanon in the first half of 2005 altered the political state of affairs concerning Syria's long occupation of that country. Yet the outcome of these events is still unclear and fluid. This article analyzes the history of the Lebanon issue and prospects for creating a new, more equitable and stable order given the dramatic changes which have taken place.
Stages and Methods in Syrian Occupation of Lebanon
The hegemonic notion of Greater Syria provides the ideological and historic underpinnings for Damascus's drive to eliminate Lebanese independence.[1] Among its tools in realizing this goal was the Saiqah Palestinian faction established in 1968. In April 1969, in the midst of tension between the Lebanese government and Palestinian forces, Syria moved several hundred Saiqah fighters to the border with Lebanon.[2] This was a mere prelude to the December 1975 Syrian decision to move both Saiqah forces and the Qadisiyya and Hittin brigades of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) to the Baka Valley and north Lebanon in order to contain and regulate the chaos emerging from Lebanese/Maronite-Palestinian fighting in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.[3]
By June 1976, Syria also sent its own army into Lebanon to dominate the country and subdue it to the will of Damascus. Manipulating the complex fighting scenario in Lebanon, Syrian-Palestinian cooperation against the Christian community became the major motif. For example, in February 1980, the Syrians turned over the western area from Damur to the Zahrani to the PLA, along with heavy military equipment.[4] On July 20, 1976, following the launching of Syria's direct military intervention in Lebanon, Hafiz al-Asad gave an historic speech in which he declared that "[throughout] history, Syria and Lebanon have been one country and one people"--a political melody that would continue to accompany this foreign conquest.[5]
The Lebanese National Movement (LNM), consolidated under the leadership of the Jumblatt Druze clan in 1976, became another vehicle for the Syrian penetration of Lebanon. A combination of leftist personalities and groups--including Ba'thists and Communists--sought to exploit the Palestinian insurgency in and against Lebanon for their own domestic political ambitions.[6] However, Kamal Jumblatt, an aristocratic landlord in socialist garb, wanted Lebanon to remain independent: "We do not want to be a satellite state," he wrote to Asad.[7] In response, Syrian operatives were sent to assassinate Jumblatt in 1977, and the LNM lost its independence, submitting to Asad and becoming a lever of Damascus against the Christian population. Its traditional platform included a demand to redistribute power away from the Christian communities in favor of the Muslim and Druze communities, to equalize regional government expenditures and investments, and to move toward a secular non-sectarian political system. Kamal's son, Walid, led the LNM and its core party element, the Progressive Socialist Party.
The mechanism of the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF), as proposed by the Arab League at the October 1976 Riyadh and Cairo conferences, became another mode for Syria's emerging domination of Lebanon. Ending hostilities and collecting weapons, in addition to supervising Lebanese-Palestinian relations, were the ADF's primary purposes. Syrian forces were the overwhelming military component, and so the ADF legitimized Syria's presence on Lebanese soil in pan-Arab dress. Thereafter, the Syrians subdued the leftists, Muslims, Druze, Palestinians, and Christian camp, each according to Syrian interests and timing.[8] Syria's creeping expansion became the fundamental political reality in Lebanon.
Already in 1976, Asad had established his sway over Lebanon, which enabled him to impose Elias Sarkis, then-governor of the Central Bank, as the president. The Chamber of Deputies met on April 10, 1976. Those present unanimously agreed to amend the constitution in order to move up the election and then voted to make Sarkis president.[9] Asad became both the source of political power and the terminator of those he opposed. This included the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982 and that of President Rene Moawed in November 1989.
Syrian control over Lebanon was comprehensive in three respects. First, by the 1990s, the Syrians had achieved an exceptional level of domestic pacification, with hardly any expressions of political opposition and little popular street protest. This was due to the flight of political figures abroad and also due to Syria's policy of physical elimination of anyone who dared challenge the absolute rule of the Asads. The assassinations of Gemayel, Shaykh Hassan Khalid, Dany Chamoun, as well as those of Lebanese Forces activists Ramzy Irani and Pierre Boulos demonstrated that point.
Second, the Syrians were very adept in masking Lebanon with a veneer of normal social, political, and cultural life. Beirut bustled, the radio blasted, and hotels were full. However, underneath the surface, the Lebanese lived in fear of voicing their opinions. A large enough number of high-profile Maronites willingly served as an elite front to hide the national infirmity. Among senior Lebanese Forces personalities, Samir Geagea gave approval to the Ta'if Accord, Elie Hobeika crossed the lines from his Israel connection to become a Syrian collaborator, and Fouad Malek ultimately succumbed to line up with the Syrians. Other well-known Maronites--Boutros Harb, Carlos Edde, Nayla Moawed, and Robert Ghanem--followed suit when they made the pilgrimage to Damascus in 2004 in order to seek Bashar Asad's support for their presidential ambitions. Adept Syrian cooptation of Lebanese politicians broadcast a message of normalcy and accommodation across the national and international airwaves.
Third, Syria did allow the minimal opposition to act as an escape valve for Lebanese grievances. Therefore, when Member of Parliament Fares Soueid insisted in an April 2004 newspaper interview that Syria should withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, not a political ripple was noticeable.[10]
Finally, the Syrians were very adept at preventing any international pressure against their policy. No global protest to Syrian occupation of Lebanon was heard for over 25 years. ...
Read entire article at Middle East Review of International Affairs (Dec. 2005)
For 30 years, political events in Lebanon were dominated by Syrian occupation until 2005, when the Syrian army withdrew under international pressure. Yet the national future of Lebanon remains clouded in doubt and tension, as acts of terror against anti-Syrian elements continue, the March "Cedar Revolution" is stymied, and the country totters between freedom and political paralysis and breakdown.
Events in Lebanon in the first half of 2005 altered the political state of affairs concerning Syria's long occupation of that country. Yet the outcome of these events is still unclear and fluid. This article analyzes the history of the Lebanon issue and prospects for creating a new, more equitable and stable order given the dramatic changes which have taken place.
Stages and Methods in Syrian Occupation of Lebanon
The hegemonic notion of Greater Syria provides the ideological and historic underpinnings for Damascus's drive to eliminate Lebanese independence.[1] Among its tools in realizing this goal was the Saiqah Palestinian faction established in 1968. In April 1969, in the midst of tension between the Lebanese government and Palestinian forces, Syria moved several hundred Saiqah fighters to the border with Lebanon.[2] This was a mere prelude to the December 1975 Syrian decision to move both Saiqah forces and the Qadisiyya and Hittin brigades of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) to the Baka Valley and north Lebanon in order to contain and regulate the chaos emerging from Lebanese/Maronite-Palestinian fighting in Beirut and Mount Lebanon.[3]
By June 1976, Syria also sent its own army into Lebanon to dominate the country and subdue it to the will of Damascus. Manipulating the complex fighting scenario in Lebanon, Syrian-Palestinian cooperation against the Christian community became the major motif. For example, in February 1980, the Syrians turned over the western area from Damur to the Zahrani to the PLA, along with heavy military equipment.[4] On July 20, 1976, following the launching of Syria's direct military intervention in Lebanon, Hafiz al-Asad gave an historic speech in which he declared that "[throughout] history, Syria and Lebanon have been one country and one people"--a political melody that would continue to accompany this foreign conquest.[5]
The Lebanese National Movement (LNM), consolidated under the leadership of the Jumblatt Druze clan in 1976, became another vehicle for the Syrian penetration of Lebanon. A combination of leftist personalities and groups--including Ba'thists and Communists--sought to exploit the Palestinian insurgency in and against Lebanon for their own domestic political ambitions.[6] However, Kamal Jumblatt, an aristocratic landlord in socialist garb, wanted Lebanon to remain independent: "We do not want to be a satellite state," he wrote to Asad.[7] In response, Syrian operatives were sent to assassinate Jumblatt in 1977, and the LNM lost its independence, submitting to Asad and becoming a lever of Damascus against the Christian population. Its traditional platform included a demand to redistribute power away from the Christian communities in favor of the Muslim and Druze communities, to equalize regional government expenditures and investments, and to move toward a secular non-sectarian political system. Kamal's son, Walid, led the LNM and its core party element, the Progressive Socialist Party.
The mechanism of the Arab Deterrent Force (ADF), as proposed by the Arab League at the October 1976 Riyadh and Cairo conferences, became another mode for Syria's emerging domination of Lebanon. Ending hostilities and collecting weapons, in addition to supervising Lebanese-Palestinian relations, were the ADF's primary purposes. Syrian forces were the overwhelming military component, and so the ADF legitimized Syria's presence on Lebanese soil in pan-Arab dress. Thereafter, the Syrians subdued the leftists, Muslims, Druze, Palestinians, and Christian camp, each according to Syrian interests and timing.[8] Syria's creeping expansion became the fundamental political reality in Lebanon.
Already in 1976, Asad had established his sway over Lebanon, which enabled him to impose Elias Sarkis, then-governor of the Central Bank, as the president. The Chamber of Deputies met on April 10, 1976. Those present unanimously agreed to amend the constitution in order to move up the election and then voted to make Sarkis president.[9] Asad became both the source of political power and the terminator of those he opposed. This included the assassination of President-elect Bashir Gemayel in September 1982 and that of President Rene Moawed in November 1989.
Syrian control over Lebanon was comprehensive in three respects. First, by the 1990s, the Syrians had achieved an exceptional level of domestic pacification, with hardly any expressions of political opposition and little popular street protest. This was due to the flight of political figures abroad and also due to Syria's policy of physical elimination of anyone who dared challenge the absolute rule of the Asads. The assassinations of Gemayel, Shaykh Hassan Khalid, Dany Chamoun, as well as those of Lebanese Forces activists Ramzy Irani and Pierre Boulos demonstrated that point.
Second, the Syrians were very adept in masking Lebanon with a veneer of normal social, political, and cultural life. Beirut bustled, the radio blasted, and hotels were full. However, underneath the surface, the Lebanese lived in fear of voicing their opinions. A large enough number of high-profile Maronites willingly served as an elite front to hide the national infirmity. Among senior Lebanese Forces personalities, Samir Geagea gave approval to the Ta'if Accord, Elie Hobeika crossed the lines from his Israel connection to become a Syrian collaborator, and Fouad Malek ultimately succumbed to line up with the Syrians. Other well-known Maronites--Boutros Harb, Carlos Edde, Nayla Moawed, and Robert Ghanem--followed suit when they made the pilgrimage to Damascus in 2004 in order to seek Bashar Asad's support for their presidential ambitions. Adept Syrian cooptation of Lebanese politicians broadcast a message of normalcy and accommodation across the national and international airwaves.
Third, Syria did allow the minimal opposition to act as an escape valve for Lebanese grievances. Therefore, when Member of Parliament Fares Soueid insisted in an April 2004 newspaper interview that Syria should withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, not a political ripple was noticeable.[10]
Finally, the Syrians were very adept at preventing any international pressure against their policy. No global protest to Syrian occupation of Lebanon was heard for over 25 years. ...