19 April 2009

Syrian President Bashar Assad stressed that acknowledging mistakes in Lebanese-Syrian relations was aimed at rejecting and rectifying them.

“Syria has spared no effort and will not spare any effort that would contribute to consolidating relations and to serving the interests of the two brotherly peoples in all domains,” the Syrian president said.
Assad was speaking during a meeting with Lebanese and Syrian academics taking part in a conference held in Damascus on Syrian-Lebanese relations. According to the state-run Syrian News Agency, SANA, the president highlighted the leading role of the two countries’ scholars in confronting the challenges facing Syria and Lebanon, and their efforts to boost the “fraternal and historical ties that bind them together.”

Assad told the gathering that the Taef Accord had put an end to the civil war in Lebanon and founded an interim phase that enabled some who have political and sectarian interests to engage in a negative role. “Because the interim phase had stretched, mistakes happened and we had to deal with those people with those interests so as to put an end to war and to restore stability in Lebanon; it was an inescapable priority."

"However Lebanon did not move to the next phase, neither did the political regime that caused strife and wars develop. This is a Lebanese affair. Our role is limited to assistance. Of course there are two aspects for this matter, one that reflects ill-intentions like corruption and negligence and another that expresses good intentions like having to deal with a de facto situation in Lebanon that we cannot be against. When we dealt with sectarian forces, we lost part of the Lebanese because of sectarian interests and we did not succeed in exiting the interim phase; and this was one of our mistakes.”

President Assad also asked: “Who has the will to make a change in Lebanon, the political or the popular class? Some countries have their own elites who can make a change, yet Syria’s role with regards to Lebanon is to assist whoever wants to stand on his feet to fulfill this goal, but certainly not to stand in his place. Sectarian and militia leaderships do not have the will to change. Change cannot be achieved without a mechanism...And here I ask: Is there any mechanism for change in Lebanon so that we can help?”

“Dialogue should not be limited to countries. It should expand to reach the peoples and their elites that can express their interests. It is not enough to address the differences between regimes and states. In this domain, the intellectual role is fundamental and this is, in fact, the actual characteristic of this conference. Without an intellectual essence, there will be no value for any goal we set.”

President Assad said that his country’s support to Hezbollah was not because the resistance party was a Lebanese faction but because it was a resistance movement against Israel.
“Politics is trade with ethics. We have been practicing politics as such. We have determined our options regarding our relation with the resistance and Iran which we consider a strategic relation.”

On delineating the Lebanese-Syrian border, Assad stressed the process had begun in the same way the Syrian Jordanian border was delineated. “However, what’s on the table today is not delineating the border; it is rather politicizing the Shebaa Farms issue. We are ready to delineate all the border line except in Shebaa Farms because Israel is still occupying it. Raising this matter only serves Israel.

UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon had spoken to me about this and I told him that the UN was not concerned in delineating the border and that it would be notified when the process was completed between the two concerned countries. In fact, there is only one three-phase solution for delineation: The pullout of Israel from the Farms, the delineation of the Lebanese-Syrian border there and informing the UN. Therefore, the occupation must end first.”

On the indirect Syrian-Israeli talks, President Assad explained that what had been taking place were not indirect negotiations. “It was more like former US Secretary of State James Baker’s marathon tours between Syria and Israel to lay the foundation for negotiations between the two countries. The same thing is happening through Turkey that is playing the same role...Of course there is coordination with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman and I have raised the issue with him. We are interested in not being independent from Lebanon or the general Arab position, otherwise our stance will become weak.”

The Syrian President was asked about the fate of “the missing Lebanese in Syria”. “After I was elected president, I took the personal initiative and ordered the release of 40 detained Lebanese.

"However, the Lebanese currently detained in Syria are charged with cooperating with Israel and spying on Syria, and they are subject to Syrian laws. They cannot be released because they are serving time. But the issue, as some are trying to raise by speaking about a list of 800 people missing in Syria is not true. What would I do with them? Do I swap them? Raising the issue as such is irrational. A large number of those claimed to be in Syria had been killed in Lebanon. They are either in mass graves or they never entered Syria in the first place. It is true that there are 15 detained Lebanese in Syria but those have been legally tried and sentenced; this is a point in Syria’s favor not against it. But should it be forgotten that the civil war had erupted in Lebanon, not in Syria? This is why, their fate, their whereabouts in Lebanon should be determined before accusing Syria which does not have any Lebanese detainee outside the framework of court rulings,” President Assad said.

He added that “we also have 1200 missing Syrians in Lebanon. Where are they? I am calling for a rational and transparent solution to this matter in Lebanon first, to determine how they went missing or killed. When the Syrian army entered eastern Beirut in the 90’s, it was shot at with bullets and artillery fire and they fired back. Are those killed in these battles considered missing in Syria?”

President Assad also encouraged holding a similar conference in Beirut.