Hariri's visit to Damascus receives mixed reactions in Lebanon

By Malik Muhammad Misbah in Beirut
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-12-21

[JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images] Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (L) meets with Syrian President Bashar Assad during a landmark visit to Syria.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri completed a historic visit to Syria on Saturday (December 19th) and Sunday as observers continue to question whether the visit will settle the longstanding tension between the two countries.

Syrian President Bashar Assad organized a private reception for Hariri that included eight hours of discussion covering a wide range of issues affecting the two countries.

This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the 2005 assassination of Hariri’s father, former Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri, which Syria is accused of plotting. Saad Hariri also held the first press conference at the Lebanese embassy in Damascus, which was officially opened one year ago.

Despite the fact that Hariri said these meetings ended on a "very positive" note, the comments of his allies in the Beirut newspapers on Monday reflected unchanging attitudes towards Syria, especially on issues such as the demarcation of borders, the case of the missing in Syrian jails, the Palestinian arms outside refugee camps, and the fate of the Syrian-Lebanese higher council.

"I don’t think that Hariri’s visit to Syria changed anything," columnist Hazem Al-Amin told Al-Shorfa. "The poor relationship between Lebanon and Syria does not get resolved by a visit of this kind. First, Hariri's supporters are not satisfied and this is apparent and tangible. Second, Saad Hariri didn’t go to Syria with a full blessing from allies … who though they didn’t announce that publicly, their position could be sensed".

"The international tribunal (investigating Hariri's death) is more important than any other issue," said Al-Amin. "If a decision were reached charging Syria with criminal involvement, then could Hariri maintain a relationship of this kind? Both sides exaggerated this new relationship in describing it as a new beginning."

Hariri arrived in Damascus unaccompanied by an official delegation, and described it as a visit that comes in the context of "Arab reconciliations begun by Saudi King Abdullah."

"Rafik Hariri was martyred for his country, and there is no difficulty in his son taking a step in the interest of his country," Hariri told al-Hayat.

The visit was met with cheers from opposition parties and newspapers, which praised Hariri’s "courage". Hariri's own media also positively responded to his call on the media to "deal positively with this visit and look at the cup as half full".

This view was reflected by the Future Movement, as confirmed by one of its members, Nadim Abdelhadi who told Al-Shorfa, "the attitude within the movement has changed. The percentage of people opposing this visit has decreased".

In an editorial, An-Nahar newspaper -- whose owner Nayla Tueni discussed her reservations about Hariri's visit on the anniversary of her father's death, Gebran – warned that Syria could invest the nature of this visit to " re-establish old patterns when dealing with Lebanon," noting that the announced "practical steps to implement the positive results of the visit" stayed in the realm of the generalities and failed to live up to the large size of the visit.

Economic expert Abdel-Rahman Ayas noted Hariri’s reference to economic issues, which in the past became a pressure card by Syria whenever relations went sour between the two countries.

"Tackling the economic issue is essential given that economic movement includes the issue of land transport so it is no longer exploited as happened when the movement of trucks [across the border] was obstructed," he told al-Shorfa.

Ayas said he was not optimistic about the prospects of resolving political disputes between the two countries, noting that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora made a smiliar visit after he became prime minister for the first time in 2005 that "ended in failure".

"Hariri could not have been more positive, moreover, this positivity was above the usual", Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in a statement. "The entire issue of Lebanese-Syrian relations is now in Syria’s court. If the positive attitude shown by Hariri and the looking beyond the previous conflicts is not met by specific positive actions, then surely the Lebanese-Syrian relationships will remain the same and won’t achieve any progress," he said.

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