Hariri's planned visit to Damascus seen as possible turning point

By Malek Muhammad Misbah in Beirut
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-12-14

[JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/Getty Images] Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri will soon make an important visit to Damascus.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s anticipated visit to Damascus could help normalize relations between Syria and Lebanon after long years of tension if outstanding issues are properly addressed, politicians and analysts said.

No date has been scheduled for the visit yet, but opposition newspapers such as al-Akhbar featured front page stories that trumpeted the kind of big welcome that the Syrians would give Hariri when he eventually visits Damascus.

Hariri is making the trip at the invitation of Syrian Prime Minister Muhammad Naji Ottari, who sent the official invite immediately after Hariri's cabinet was formed on November 9th.

Mustafa Alloush, a former member of parliament and leading figure of Hariri’s Future Movement, told al-Shorfa that the only capacity in which Prime Minister Hariri would visit Syria is in his capacity as prime minister of Lebanon.

"If this weren't the case, he would have visited Syria before he became prime minister, which would have broken all the protocols," said Alloush.

"There may be many formal proceedings, including a welcoming reception. But there are definitely outstanding issues, and it is important to reach practical solutions, rather than to end up having a big reception after which nothing is achieved."

Rami al-Rayyis, media spokesman for Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, told Al-Shorfa that Hariri’s visit to Syria "is necessary to rebuild normal relations between the two countries in accordance with the stipulations of the Taif Accord and also to try to deal with some of the issues which must be tackled".

"There is no doubt that Prime Minister Hariri is aware of the importance of this visit and its positive influence on the two countries, and also on the internal situation in Lebanon," said al-Rayyis. "There is a need to rebuild these relations in a manner far removed from the differences of the past, which led to tension and upheaval. This requires effort from both countries."

Al-Rayyis said that he hoped the results of Hariri’s visit would be good, and avoided answering a question about the timing of a possible visit by Jumblatt to Damascus.

"Let’s wait and see after Prime Minister Hariri’s visit," he said.

Dr. Ahmad Zeineddine of the Lebanese University said Hariri’s visit to Syria is natural because he no longer represents a political faction, but rather he has become the Prime Minister of Lebanon.

He added that Syria is Lebanon's only neighbour with which it shares historical, cultural, political and geographical relations.

"No prime minister can ignore this connection between the two countries," he said.

Zeineddine said the visit has other meanings for Hariri as someone personally affected by the tension between the two countries, which increased following the assassination of his father [Rafik Hariri]. He sees a new political maturity in Hariri because "he is not accusing anyone [of his father's assassination] in case this contributes to the disruption of Lebanon’s relations with its neighbour and damages all their mutual interests."

While politicians and analysts may take a positive view of the visit, the views of Hariri’s supporters are divided.

Faysal Al-Mir, one Lebanese citizen who is fiercely loyal to Hariri, does not hide his opposition to the timing of the visit.

"I am not against Syria, but against Prime Minister Hariri’s visit to Syria before the international court gives its view on the assassination of the martyred Prime Minister Rafik Hariri," he told al-Shorfa. "The visit at this time looks as if he is declaring Syria innocent."

But Ibrahim Al-Saidi, a Beirut supporter of Hariri, disagrees.

"I don’t feel angry about the visit, and I believe that most of Hariri’s people in Beirut share my view, because this is essentially an Arab nationalist group. It cannot and does not want to withdraw from its Arab environment. This is exactly what the martyred Prime Minister wanted."

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