A year after Syria's pullout Damascus and Tehran still interfering in Lebanon
Beirut (AsiaNews) As many Lebanese celebrate the first anniversary of the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, "there are strained relations between Lebanon and Syria, reluctance to demarcate the borders, public debt and emigration," said Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. For the head of the Maronite Church, the international community still ought to help the country sort out these problems and encourage the Lebanese to pursue a national dialogue.
"The rise in political squabbling among Lebanon's political rivals Wednesday marred the first anniversary of Syria's military pullout," writes the Daily Star. "The mounting political tension also comes days before Lebanon's ruling elite resume their national talks".
A year since the pullout, Lebanon is certainly freer, this according to Lebanonwire, but at the same time, another, Syrian- and Iranian-controlled military forces remain in the country blocking further progress.
For Walid Phares, a US-based scholar who took part in the drafting of UN Resolution 1559, certain developments explain why things have not yet improved. In an article titled "1 year after the pull out: Syria, Iran still control Lebanon", he points out, first, that despite the victory by an anti-Syrian coalition in last year's parliamentary elections, the "Syrian-Iranian sponsored alliance in Lebanon has been unfortunately successful in blocking the full implementation of UNSCR 1559 and bogging down the Cedars Revolution".
Secondly, since "last May, a terrorist campaign has been able to assassinate a number of politicians such as leftwing politician George Hawi, liberal journalist Samir Qassir, democracy leader MP Jebran Tueni."
Thirdly, "Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Syria's allies in Lebanon have been threatening violence against any attempt to pull the remnants of the Syrian occupation, the disarming of their militias and the deployment of the Lebanese army into south Lebanon or along the Syrian-Lebanese borders." In fact, international, US and European officials and observers have concluded that "Syrian security personnel remain along the borders inside Lebanese territories".
The article ends saying that in such dangerous times, marked by the nuclear ambitions and challenges to regional and international security of Ahmedinijad's regime in Tehran; and Syrian President Assad's continued interference in Iraq, support for terrorist groups, assistance to Hizbollah and radical groups like Hamas and Jihad, it "is very urgent that the international community extend its support to the forces of civil society, the government and the army in Lebanon to reclaim a pluralist, democratic and sovereign Lebanon."
Yesterday US Ambassador John Bolton to the United Nations announced that the United States was going to ask the UN Security Council to adopt a new resolution on what it calls continued Syrian interference in Lebanon.
The US move comes after a recent report from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that urged disarming the Lebanese militias, including Hizbollah's, and for the first time mentioned Iran's role in Lebanon's internal instability, urging Tehran to cooperate in disarming the militias.
But China has already said no. For Beijing, the region is already complicated, and there is no need to make it even more.
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