Upbeat Syria Sees Lebanon Solution This Month

Damascus officials expect meeting of rivals to announce deal prior to Tribunal indictment

By Hussein Dakroub

This article was published in The Daily Star on 10/01/2010 

BEIRUT: Syria is optimistic that a Saudi-Syrian-brokered agreement to resolve Lebanon’s months-long crisis will be implemented later this month, an Arab diplomatic source said Sunday, a move that is likely to defuse political and sectarian tensions over indictment in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Speaking to The Daily Star after meeting with senior Syrian officials in Damascus, the source said Syria believed a U.N.-backed court’s indictment into Hariri’s killing being issued this month was unlikely, a move that is
expected to give the Saudi and Syrian mediators more time to clinch a deal from the rival Lebanese factions.

“The agreement worked out by Saudi Arabia and Syria has been accomplished. Only technical aspects of the deal are left to be finalised, including a crisis of deep confidence between the feuding parties,” the source said.

The source said efforts were under way to arrange a meeting later this month between the March 8 and March 14 factions with the presence of Saudi and Syrian representatives at which the accord would be made public.

In a further signal that the Saudi-Syrian bid was heading toward smooth sailing, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz will leave New York for Morocco on Jan. 21 to pursue his convalescence following back surgeries, the source said. He added that Abdullah’s presence in the Moroccan city of Agadir was expected to help the king’s son, Prince Abdel-Aziz, shuttle easily between Damascus and Beirut as part of the Saudi-Syrian contacts.

However, the source warned that Saudi Arabia was coming under “heavy U.S. pressure” not to proceed with the deal being thrashed out with Syria. “There are American fears that the Saudi-Syrian agreement will eventually lead to the abolition of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” the source said.

The source also cautioned that Syria would pull out of the agreement with Saudi Arabia if the S.T.L.’s indictment was released before the announcement of the agreement.

Syria’s reported optimism, coupled with Speaker Nabih Berri’s statement that January is a “decisive” month for the Saudi-Syria mediation bid, came as Prime Minister Saad Hariri was to meet again in New York early Monday (Beirut time) with the Saudi king to discuss the Riyadh-Damascus contacts on Lebanon.

Hariri met late Friday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has met with the Saudi king on what was described as a “courtesy” visit following his recovery from back surgeries in New York last month.

Clinton discussed with Abdullah and Hariri rising tension in Lebanon over the forthcoming indictment at separate meetings in New York, U.S. officials said.

Clinton reaffirmed strong U.S. support for Lebanon’s independence and for the work of the U.N.-backed tribunal that is investigating the assassination of Hariri’s father, said a source who attended the half-hour meeting between Clinton and Hariri at a New York hotel.

Asked whether the Lebanese prime minister also supported it, the source replied, “That goes without saying.”

The source added that Clinton had also expressed strong support for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon, a phrase often used to imply criticism of attempts by neighboring Syria to exert control over Lebanese affairs.

Clinton herself made no comment to reporters other than to praise her meeting with Hariri as “excellent.” The United States has repeatedly underlined its commitment to Hariri’s government and to the tribunal.

Before meeting Hariri, Clinton held a 45-minute meeting in an adjacent hotel with the Saudi king. No details of their talks were available, but State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said before the meeting: “Certainly, she will emphasize to the king, as well as to the prime minister, our support of the democratic government in Lebanon, as well as our ongoing support for the Special Tribunal.”

Hariri’s national unity Cabinet has been paralyzed for months by political tension and the rival factions’ dispute over the controversial issue of “false witnesses” linked to the U.N. probe into Rafik Hariri’s assassination. It has met only once since November 10 and it failed at its last meeting on December 15 to settle this issue when the March 8 ministers demanded a vote for referring it to the Judicial Council, the country’s highest court, prompting President Michel Sleiman to defer the session.

In an interview with the Saudi newspaper Al-Hayat last week, Hariri said Saudi Arabia and Syria had reached an agreement to resolve the Lebanese crisis several months ago, but its implementation has been held up by Hizbullah and its March 8 allies who have failed to carry out their share of the deal. Hariri’s remarks drew a quick response from Berri and a Hizbullah minister who rejected Hariri’s accusation.

Hizbullah M.P. Ali Fayyad said the March 8 camp has done its share of a solution for the crisis and was ready to help in implementation. He warned of U.S. attempts to obstruct the Saudi-Syrian solution. “The current stage is not one to score points or to engage in negative rhetoric … A solution is in the interest of all the Lebanese,” Fayyad told a rally in the southern village of Majdal Slim.

M.P. Mohammed Hajjar of Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc said the Saudi-Syrian bid sought to prevent a military explosion in Lebanon and the overthrow of Hariri’s Cabinet. “We in the Future Movement say there are firm and known things. The tribunal will remain and the indictment will be issued on time. Security is ensured, undermining stability is forbidden and the toppling of Hariri’s Cabinet is also forbidden.”