10 years on, cracks appear in Lebanese-Syrian relations

By Ali Jaber and Anne-Beatrice Clasmann

BEIRUT (DPA): Ten years after Lebanon and Syria signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Coordination unease about relations between the two countries is becoming more visible.

Many Lebanese are tired of the presence of some 35,000 Syrian soldiers on their territory and their national pride is offended by what is seen as "interference" in a neighbor's internal affairs.

The influx of 700,000 Syrian guest workers has also caused bad blood and since 1998 there have been several attacks on Syrian military bases and accommodation used by Syrian seasonal workers.

Over the past few months talking openly about a Syrian military withdrawal has longer been taboo.

Heading the campaign is Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. The Christian leader heads a group which wants the Syrians to pack up their guns and go.

The head of Lebanon's largest Christian religious community warned on May 22, 1991, the day the friendship treaty was signed with "big brother", that the agreement with Damascus would be one of unequal partners.

Now the patriarch is urging the Syrians to go and blaming them for the country's economic woes.

The treaty envisages concord between Beirut and Damascus on every major aspect of politics which means in practice that the Lebanese leadership must wait for the green light from Syria before taking any big decision. Like many Lebanese Christians, Patriarch Sfeir believes the Syrian military presence is no longer essential for the security of the country.

"We want to protect the labor force, agriculture and industrial products, to put an end to illegal competition, cross- border smuggling and stop interference in administrative affairs, employment, as well as in legislative and judicial affairs," Sfeir told DPA.

According to a Lebanese political analyst, Syria's interference in Lebanon's affairs "is not new" and dates back to the 1943 independence of this tiny Arab country.

"But such an interference has become more obvious due to its direct military presence in the country along with an allied political structure in Lebanon," the analyst told DPA.

The Syrian soldiers arrived back in 1976 as part of an Arab deterrent force to end the Lebanese civil war. While most Arab forces left the country a year later, the Syrian soldiers remained, making their country the main power broker in Lebanon.

It should not be forgotten that the Syrian forces were deployed in Lebanon at the "request of some Lebanese Christians" when Lebanese leftist militias and their Palestinian guerrilla allies were gaining the upper hand in the raging battles, said Fawwaz Traboulsi, a professor at the Lebanese-American University in Beirut.

And in view of the Arab-Israeli conflict, such cooperation with Syria still makes sense today, said the academic.

The treaty also stipulates that "Lebanon should avoid becoming a passage, base or stronghold for any force, state or organization which seeks to undermine Syria's security, while Syria, keen to preserve Lebanon's security, unity and independence, pledged that it would not allow any action that would constitute a danger to Lebanon's security.

The anti-Syrian faction in Lebanon sees that differently as one joke that has been doing the rounds in Beirut for years, illustrates: The Lebanese president is asked one night by his grandchild whether he could give help her with a mathematics homework question. He turns her down, saying there's no way he could get permission from Damascus in time for the morning.

Lebanese who favor a Syrian troop pullout must be on a constant guard not be branded as instruments of Israel, especially following the Israeli attack on a Syrian radar station in Lebanon.

But they only seek the implementation of the Saudi-brokered Taif treaty of 1989 which envisaged Syria pulling out after a maximum of two years. Damascus was originally only going to oversee a plan for national reconciliation

For Syria's Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass, the issue appears to be clear. He told a local newspaper last week that the relations between Syria and Lebanon were governed simply by the two country's presidents and governments "within the framework of the 1991 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Coordination.."