SYRIA, LEBANON: A flag raised, an embassy marked

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A small flag was raised and a golden plaque displayed outside an office building on a busy commercial street in Beirut, and a little piece of history was made this week.

With little fanfare, Syria marked its embassy in Lebanon on Friday, a first in the tangled saga of the two countries and a step toward normalization of a relationship that resembles that of a dysfunctional married couple.

The embassy is set to open for business next week.

But many wonder why Damascus chose Beirut’s famously busy Hamra Street shopping district as the place to open the embassy. The area is certainly full of amenities, including excellent cafes and restaurants and great stores. But traffic is horrible and the site is rather indiscreet, perhaps sending the wrong message.

‘I don’t like the fact that the Syrian Embassy is here around the corner,’ said Nabil Jaouhari, a 32-year-old artist who lives in the district. ‘I feel like they are going to be watching us from the windows.’

Syria has dominated Lebanon’s politics for decades and its military forces occupied the country until 2005, when Lebanese frustration with Damascus spilled out onto the street in what is called the Cedar Revolution.

Syria often takes sides in Lebanon’s volatile domestic politics, carved along the country’s stark sectarian and religious divides. Jaouhari and others said they were worried about the symbolism of having the Syrian Embassy in the middle of Hamra Street, long an emblem of the country’s fading cosmopolitan spirit.

‘I am with the idea of having a Syrian Embassy as long as it functions like any other embassy,’ Jaouhari said. ‘Hamra represents a neutral area with no clear political taint. It is a melting pot for everybody. It is weird to have it located here.’

Foreign countries often choose leafier environments for their Lebanese diplomatic outposts, maybe up in the foothills of the mountain range above Beirut, and not just for the fresh air. It’s easier to secure an embassy out in the suburbs.

Hilal Khachan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, described the embassy’s location as ‘very curious.’

‘They chose the worst possible location to establish an embassy,’ he said. ‘Wait for not very long and someone will plant a bomb in front of the embassy, and the Syrians will use it as an excuse to close it down. It is the least defensible spot I could think of.’

-- Raed Rafei and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

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