Syria is now moving centerstage in the wake of the assassination of a Lebanese leader coupled with the U.S. withdrawing its ambassador from Syria.
Syria has long been identified as at the least an enabler of terrorism, at worst — which most analysts believe — an instigator of it. And the fact that the U.S. has yankked its ambassador out is not just happenstance.
Just look at the developments:
The United States pulled its ambassador from Syria on Tuesday, expressing “profound outrage” over the assassination of a Lebanese leader who had protested Syrian influence in his country.
In Lebanon, there were noisy street processions mourning former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri a day ahead of the funeral that will bring international leaders to Beirut. Angry Lebanese attacked Syrian workers in the former leader’s hometown of Sidon, injuring several and shattering the windows of a Syrian-owned bakery.
Many Lebanese are pressing Syria to withdraw its 15,000 soldiers who have been in the country for more than a decade.
And what are the signals from Washington? If you were in the Syrian elite, you might have a bad’s night sleep:
Administration officials stopped short of directly accusing Syria of carrying out the murder. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the assassination was the “proximate cause” of the ambassador’s recall.
Asked if the United States would go further and punish Syria with new economic sanctions, Rice said, “We will continue to consider other options.” She said, “The Syrian problem is a serious problem.”
And now — surprise — investigators believe the blast may have been the bloody handiwork of a homicide bomber.
Then look at this editorial in the Arab News and what the opening paragraph implies:
It may take weeks, if not years, before we know who killed Rafik Hariri. Whoever was behind the dastardly deed clearly wanted to achieve two objectives. The first was to deprive the emerging Lebanese opposition front from a credible leader capable of cutting across sectarian divides in the name of national unity. The second was to create the impression that without Syrian troops on its soil, Lebanon would be plunged into chaos and civil war. It is important that the Lebanese people, with support from the international community, unite to deny the perpetrators of the murder what they set out to achieve.
The situation is compounded by the fact that the murdered leader was a beloved leader who had a compelling personal as well as political history. And then factor in who was opposing him:
Syria’s domination of politics in Lebanon is deep-rooted, pervasive and bolstered by thousands of Syrian soldiers deployed on Lebanese soil since 1976. A measure of Syria’s sweeping influence came last year when Lebanon’s parliament, bowing to Damascus, changed the constitution to give Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud three more years in office as his original single term was about to expire.
Rafik Hariri, then the prime minister whose billionaire status and longtime political career gave him a louder voice than most, clashed with Lahoud and resigned last October.
Hariri was expected to stage a political comeback in parliamentary elections this spring, as someone who might be able to maintain a certain distance from Damascus. But Monday’s devastating bombing ended his life and threw Lebanese politics into further turmoil.
It was unclear who was behind the massive blast that destroyed Hariri’s motorcade in Beirut. But many Lebanese, resentful of Syria’s decisive role in their country’s affairs, were quick to blame the Syrians and their Lebanese allies for the bombing.
Syria has strongly denied any involvement and condemned the attack. Still, the assassination has focused attention on Syria’s continued presence in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, pressures are growing on Syria to withdraw its troops, Reuters reports:
International pressure mounted on Syria to ease its grip over Lebanon as stunned Lebanese prepared to bury slain former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri on Wednesday.
U.S. officials said they are considering imposing new sanctions on Syria because of its refusal to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon and the administration’s belief that Syria lets Palestinian militants and Iraqi insurgents operate on its soil.
Prediction: there will be very little U.S. tolerance for Syrian covert or overt support of terrorists in coming months. Anything out of line will be met with some form of consequences. It’s safe to say the U.S. withdrawal of its ambassador was a pointed warning to Damascus.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.