Syria's Assad Looks for 'Face Saving Solution'
"You want to bring a [new] Lebanese president...I will not allow you to do so. I will crush whoever tries to act against our decision."
That was the message that Syrian president Bashar Assad allegedly delivered to Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in late 2004, according to former Syrian vice president, Abdul Halim Khaddam. A few months later, Hariri was killed by a bomb that U.N. investigators now believe was planted by Syrian intelligence agents.
Khaddam's sensational charge, made last Thursday in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, delivered another powerful blow to the already besieged government of Syria, say Middle East commentators. Khaddam was denounced as a "traitor" by Syria, but his 35-year career in Syrian politics gives his allegation credibility in the region's online media.
Assad is facing "mounting international pressure" over the killing last year of Hariri, according to aljazeera.net. U.N. investigator Serge Brammertz wants to interview him over his alleged role in the assassination.
On Saturday, Assad rejected sitting for an interview. But after he paid unscheduled visits on Sunday to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarbak, two leading Lebanese news sites, Naharnet and the Daily Star, now say the Syrian president is searching for a "face saving solution" to the U.N. request.
Albawaba notes that Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was an "intimate friend" of the Saudi royal family and held Saudi citizenship. "Following his killing, Riyadh has played an important role in persuading Syria to agree to cooperate with the UN probe into the murder," says the Persian Gulf news site.
In an interview with an Egyptian weekly, Al Osboa, Assad denied threatening Hariri for his desire to replace Lebanon's pro-Syrian president.
"I am direct and frank. I don't know what others meant by threatening," Assad said, according to a report in the Daily Star.
Khaddam's remarks set off another round of speculation that Assad's government may fall. (See my Oct. 21, 2005 post, "Syria's Death Throes?")
"Khaddam is a witness of the first degree," says Hazem Saghieh, columnist for the Arab nationalist daily, Dar al Hayat. His "importance is not diminished by the torrent of curses that have fallen on him." The Syrian ship of state, says Saghieh, "has begun its frightening descent under the waves."
The Arab daily Al Quds al-Arabiya reported that "the intelligence services of a neighboring country, as well as Russia," warned Assad before his weekend trips that domestic rivals might attempt to overthrow his government, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Arab criticism of Khaddam for allegedly joining a French-American conspiracy against Syria, wrote Randa Takieddine, "is a desperate reaction by those who always want to blame external actors."
The widespread coverage of Khaddam's remarks "revealed that the Arab media, especially the official media, is mostly against the Syrian regime," said Daoud Shirian, also in Dar al Hayat.
Assad should agree to the interview, say the editors of the Khaleej Times today."If he is innocent, he has nothing to fear."
(An extensive English transcript of Khaddam's interview is available on Ya Libnan, a Beirut news site. The pro-Israeli Middle East Media Research Institute, has a video clip.)
By Jefferson Morley |
January 9, 2006; 10:28 AM ET
| Category:
Mideast
Previous: Cartoon Roundup: Walling Off Mexico |
Next: Guardian Reporter Briefly Detained in Iraq
Posted by: About Time | January 9, 2006 01:20 PM
Or Americans in rather higher offices?
But seriously, the Syrian government is unlikely to fall. Perhaps Assad will make a senior advisor or two walk the plank. Or the Ba'ath might replace Assad (though this is VERY unlikely. Assad holds his position chiefly because no one else can agree who else should hold it).
And 'leadership change' (aka coup) just now would still leave the new leader holding a very bloody bag. . .
Posted by: chris | January 9, 2006 01:37 PM
Yes, it's a shame. I'd love to back regime change in Damascus, but there seems to be no better alternative to change to. Assad will hang around by default, his father having completely neutered Syrian civil society. Pity.
Posted by: butchie b | January 9, 2006 03:46 PM
Bringing assassins to justice should be about bringing assassins to justice, not as a cover for regime change.
The Syrians must find their own way to democracy. It can't be done for them. That much should be obvious by now.
By the way, Sharon has killed a lot more Lebanese than Assad Jr ever did, but everyone is saying what a great guy he was.
At least the Syrians never tried to annex a chunk of the country, which is more than Likud can say.
Posted by: OD | January 9, 2006 04:27 PM
What happens in the Middle East is the responsibility of the people of that region. 9/11 was a reason to go to Afghanistan. There was no reason for Iraq as far as the national interest of the United States is concerned. Syria is not a threat to the U.S., and it is none of our business. War or the threat of war is always the last resort.
I believe that preemptive diplomacy to solve problems before war becomes necessary is the way to go. Certainly Nuclear proliferation is one issue that needs to be dealt with through negotiations and not through threats. There are reasons not to have nuclear weapons.
Posted by: P. J. Casey | January 9, 2006 05:29 PM
If MEMRI is described as "pro-Israeli," why isn't aljazeera.net (or any number of other Arab media outlets in the above article) described as "pro-Palestinian"?
Posted by: | January 10, 2006 02:55 PM
OD, it is disingeuous in the extreme to say that the Syrians never tried to annex Lebanon, when you know full well that they ran the place for 2 decades from Damascus. And from Mr. Casey, the wisdom of the Left isolationists. We should never intervene, anywhere, for any erason, unless we have been attcked. So much for the Korean War, or the Balkans, or saving Rwandans. Never again....until the next time.
Posted by: butchie b | January 10, 2006 04:01 PM
The Syrians tried to dominate Lebanon. The Israelis tried to incorporate South Lebanon into their own country.
The Syrians left under pressure of international opinion. The Israelis left under pressure of bombs and rockets.
If terrorising Lebanese people is a bad thing, why are we all praising Sharon to heaven? He was found to have done so by his own government's inquiry.
Posted by: OD | January 10, 2006 05:58 PM
In your link to the Ya Libnan transcript of Khaddam's interview, you have an extra "." at the end of the link. I suggest you fix it so the readers can access the document.
Posted by: sam | January 10, 2006 09:23 PM
Arabs suck!
Posted by: Joseph | January 13, 2006 01:56 PM
Preach on Joseph!
Posted by: James | January 19, 2006 10:37 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Amazing... Arabs blaming ther Arabs in truth...yet some still try and deny Arabs are able to commit crimes, and blame "foreigners"...
Once Arabs can admit they have a problem they can begin to solve it. Not until then. Just like the Serbs... and just like poor americans in the ghetto.