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By Root 462 0

respectively, were assembled in formation in front of French-colonial-era buildings and monuments dedicated to those fallen in the Levant campaigns of World War II. After every major stanza of a speech praising Syria, the Syria soldiers blurted out “Bi ruh, bi dem, nafdika ya Bashar” (In spirit, in blood, we will sacrifice ourselves for you, oh Bashar). The Lebanese formations would likewise respond with Lebanese slogans after positive declarations about Lebanon. After they had finished, both formations marched out together. The Syrian troops then piled onto army transports that whisked them back to the motherland. A lone Syrian solider that the caravan had left behind leapt onto the last truck as it snaked its way across the border. Lebanon’s twenty-nine-year “Pax Syriana” was over.

The day following Hariri’s murder, the United States withdrew its ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey. While Hariri’s murder was shocking, removing Scobey wasn’t surprising, given the quiet tensions in the Levant between the United States and Syria the previous autumn. While Syria and the United States were at odds over Iraq and the Palestinians, they also had divergent views over what should happen when President Lahoud’s term was due to expire in September 2004. The United States wanted Lahoud, who was considered Syria’s man in Lebanon, replaced. Lahoud had spent the better part of the last two years blocking Hariri’s initiatives in the cabinet.

During my last meeting with Hariri in July 2003, he had candidly told me over a cup of tea at Lebanon’s Grand Serail that Lahoud’s people were sabotaging the government’s plans to rebuild the country. “We don’t understand where the resistance is coming from,” he lamented. “We have toned down our disagreements with him lately at the request of the powers that be. But it’s getting worse.” “Powers that be” was code for Syria.2

After months of watching and waiting, Assad finally played his hand. In late August 2004, Assad used his influence in the Lebanese parliament to extend Lahoud’s term an additional three years—half a standard presidential term. In parliament, Hariri, with an empty expression on his face and his arm in a sling, passed the extension through parliament. That evening, pro-Lahoud Lebanese set fireworks off over the port of Beirut.

In response, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1559 on September 2, 2004. The resolution demanded “all foreign forces” withdraw from Lebanon as well as the “disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias.”3 In the months leading up to 1559’s passage, Hariri liaised with the French president, Jacques Chirac, to draft a UN resolution against an extension of Lahoud’s term. Hariri was willing to cut deals on Syria’s presence in Lebanon, but Lahoud’s extension was a red line. For the United States to support the resolution, it wanted language that called on Hezbollah and Palestinian militias in Lebanon to be disarmed.4 A month following 1559’;s passage, a car bomb severely wounded Marwan Hamadeh, an economy and trade minister in Hariri’s last government. Hamadeh had been an outspoken critic of Syria’s presence in Lebanon.

In the days following Hariri’s killing, Washington reiterated its demands that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon. In a press release on February 15, 2005, secretary of state Condoleezza Rice condemned Hariri’s murder as an act of terrorism, citing that “all those responsible for this terrible crime must be brought to justice immediately.”5 On February 17, shortly before he was scheduled to meet with European leaders, Bush announced in a press conference that Washington’s withdrawal of its ambassador to Syria “indicates that the relationship is not moving forward, that Syria is out of step with the progress being made in the Middle East … and this is a country that isn’t moving with the democratic movement.” Concerning Syria’s involvement in the murder, Bush said, “I can’t tell you that because the investigation is ongoing, so I’m going to withhold judgment until we find out what the facts are