Lebanese Syrian Relations 4

A recent incident occurring on the Lebanese-Syrian border has put the issue of border demarcation between Lebanon and Syria at the forefront again.

It took Syria about 60 some years to recognize Lebanon as an independent and sovereign nation by finally agreeing (albeit under pressure) to exchange diplomatic missions with Beirut. This however, has not stopped Syria from wanting and working towards the goal of meddling in Lebanese internal affairs to assure it's hegemony over anything Lebanese.

The mere presence of an ambassador in Beirut is not proof enough that Syria believes, wants, and works towards a free and independent Lebanon. After all, nobody hears anything from the guy, and he rarely appears in public. There is no shortage of issues that need to be dealt with when it comes to Lebanese-Syrian relations, and this blog has previously listed some of them.

One of the main issues, is the demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border. Syria has refused for years to demarcate the Lebanese border for various reasons that I will not get into in this post. However, one reason the border should be demarcated is the recent spat between the village of Arsal and the neighboring Syrian villages. Farmers and residents from both sides of the border have agricultural land that they tend to. The catch here is that since the border is not demarcated, and the propriety of the land is in question, and since apparently Wild West mentalities (video) are prevalent, every now and then, each time somebody goes out to tend to their land, they get killed. Usually, casualties are mostly on the Lebanese side of the border, however this time around, both a Syrian and a Lebanese were killed. The villagers are hoping that this will serve as a deterrent to what they see as a clear, concrete and constant violation of their rights by the Syrians.

Whatever the reasons are for Syria to not demarcate the border between the two countries, this however should not be used as an excuse or pretext by the Lebanese government to not protect its citizens and ensure their rights, no matter where they be found on Lebanese land.

It's time for the Lebanese government to take serious actions to pressure the international community and Syria to force a demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border. If this cannot be easily achieved, I believe that the Lebanese government should take unilateral actions to demarcate the border itself, at the very least to protect its citizens and territorial integrity.


BG

Lebanese Syrian Relations 3

After years and years of not recognizing Lebanon as a sovereign state but finally appointing an ambassador and stalling in terms of sending him to Beirut to actually do his duties, Syria has finally ordered its' ambassador to go to Beirut and start his job.

He crossed the Syrio-Lebanese border yesterday headed towards Beirut.

Timing anyone??

IS there any hidden agenda in the timing?
I personally would like to think not. Sometimes I get the feeling that the Syrians do these kinds of things just to fuel their esoteric fires more and more. Kinda adds to the whole dark enigma state type of thing.

And since this IS the middle east, it follows then that there is a conspiracy theory behind everything. It just remains to be seen what that theory is.

Is he coming to interfere with the elections?
Is he so sure of the results (that they are going to be favorable towards march 8th) that he feels comfortable coming before and not after?
Does he feel that he is going to be right at home with the new parliament that is going to emerge that he feels comfy to come already?
Is the pressure mounting on Syria by the Americans and the Europeans?

And so on and so forth . . .

Of course, the regular normal explanation would be that he was just recently appointed and is just now able to take on the duties of the office to which he was assigned.

But that is too boring, and so not middle east.


BG

Lebanese Syrian Relations 2

FINALLY

Syria finally appoints its ambassador to Lebanon.
After years of not recognizing Lebanon as an independent sovereign nation, Syria has finally succumbed to international pressure to recognize its' tiny neighbor as an independent entity not part of its' own greater geographical existence. It remains to be seen if the Syrians will actually follow up this recognition of independence by not interfering in Lebanese internal affairs and not undermining Lebanon's sovereignty.
We can only hope that Lebanese Syrian relationships are finally on the right track.

This is certainly a first step in the right direction.
A plethora of issues remain to be solved:

• final and concrete demarcation of the border that separates the two countries
• review of the various treaties signed under Syrian occupation that are mostly one-sided and favor Syria
• dismantling of the various pro-Syrian Palestinian military posts
• and most importantly, the return/fate of the various Lebanese prisoners in Syria

Youtube Video

BBC Story

BG