Syria’s Control of Lebanon Grows as ‘Mask’ Comes Off

Charming neighborhoods and inviting restaurants sprout like crocuses in spring around sophisticated postwar Beirut, and so it was amid the tinkling of crystal and china that the young man told how his father was taken away.

His father was a prominent political activist. One day in 1994, Lebanese soldiers came to their home and took the father to the top Syrian official in Beirut, the man some dissidents call Lebanon’s gauleiter--the German word used in the Nazi era for a party functionary serving as a provincial governor.

The father was interviewed by his host, given coffee and then whisked away to prison in Damascus, the Syrian capital. There he remains, not charged with a crime, but not permitted to go home.

Human rights advocates estimate that more than 100 Lebanese have been arrested in Lebanon and put in prison in Syria--a stark reminder of the quiet but effective ways that Syrian President Hafez Assad’s authoritarian government exercises control over Lebanon, its smaller neighbor.

“In the past, we used to have masks. Now we have taken off our masks,” said a former Lebanese diplomat now in Beirut, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Everyone knows that Syria controls everything in Lebanon, totally.”

Since this nation’s civil war quieted in 1991, the United States and the Arab world have seemingly acquiesced to the Syrian overlordship in Lebanon, apparently recognizing it as a necessary evil to end the 16 years of extensive bloodshed and ruin here.

During the war, Christian and Muslim militias vied for power, and it was only the Christians’ military defeat and a Syrian-imposed peace that restored calm.

Now the country’s only conflict is the low-level war fought by the Hezbollah militia in the south against Israeli troops and their allies in a 440-square-mile, Israeli-declared security zone.

A treaty of “brotherhood, cooperation and coordination,” signed in May 1991, widened the Syrian influence in Lebanon, mandating security and economic cooperation. Treaty opponents said it amounted to an annexation of Lebanon, while proponents said closer ties ensured Lebanon’s return to stability and prosperity.

But even the much-welcomed peace does not mean that the Lebanese like being a vassal state.

A return of Lebanese sovereignty is often cited by Christian groups in pamphlets and political manifestoes as a key demand.

According to diplomats here, even most Lebanese Muslims would like to see the Syrians out as quickly as possible.

Now fears are rising that the Syrians are moving to exert more control, undermining the freedom of expression and social tolerance that makes this eastern Mediterranean country of 3 million so attractive in spite of its horrible record of sectarian slaughter, kidnappings and assassinations.

This is happening even as Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is making impressive strides in rebuilding the city of Beirut and raising billions of dollars from governments and investors for reconstruction.

Lebanon has been unique in the Middle East: It has an open, liberal economy, a relatively free press, independent civic associations and a tolerant attitude toward alcohol and night life. This combination made Lebanon a tourist center and a trading and finance hub for the region before everything fell apart in the civil war that started in 1975.

In the country emerging from that nightmare, there is uncertainty whether the old Lebanon will return, or a less open version.

“We see a trend that our freedoms are in danger. However, at the same time, there is serious action by our civil society to try to improve on our freedoms,” said Ghassan Moukheiber, a human rights lawyer in Beirut.

Lebanon is in a “twilight zone” where it could become more or less democratic, Moukheiber said. “There is a facade of democracy, and then there is hope that this facade can turn into something real.”

But secret arrests have been going on since the 1991 treaty.

“The subject of the Syrian role in Lebanon--and human rights abuses that arise from Syrian actions there--has long been taboo in Lebanon,” according to Human Rights Watch/Middle East. “Most residents of Lebanon are afraid to discuss these issues.”

The monitoring group reports that inquiries from families whose loved ones have “disappeared” into Syria are “met with disinterest and inaction by Lebanese authorities, who reportedly refuse even to write down the complaints.”

The government has also been reining in Lebanon’s freewheeling broadcast media, bringing them into line with the censorship and government control typical of most Arab countries. A law that took effect in November bans broadcasts by all but five private television outlets.

The surviving stations are either owned by prominent government officials or have close links to the government. The one exception is a broadcast license given to Hezbollah so that it can publicize its “resistance” in southern Lebanon.

Already it is illegal to print pamphlets and brochures without a license, and there are suspicions that the Syrian-dominated parliament plans limits on the formation of associations.

Finally, dissidents complain of attempts to circumvent the independence of the judiciary, often by referring cases to a pliable military tribunal rather than to the regular courts. About 35,000 Syrian troops are stationed in Lebanon, providing a military counterweight to Israel, which continues to occupy the strip of territory along Lebanon’s southern border that constitutes one-tenth of the country.

But Lebanon may not have the choice of independence, diplomats suggest.

“I think a majority of Lebanese, even in the Muslim community, want Lebanon free of any foreign forces,” said France’s ambassador in Beirut, Jean-Pierre Lafon. “But in the history of Lebanon, you have to know, this country lived always under either real or political domination.”

Clearly, some Lebanese are willing to use violence to counter the Syrian presence.

On Dec. 18, unknown gunmen opened fire on a Syrian-registered minibus 12 miles north of Beirut, killing its Syrian driver and wounding a passenger. It was believed to be the first attack on Syrian civilians in Lebanon since the war ended and thousands of Syrians began traveling in and out of Lebanon daily for work or trade.

That same day, there was an explosion near the headquarters of Syrian intelligence in the northern city of Tripoli, reportedly injuring two Syrian intelligence officers. Although the Syrians insist that it was an accident, many in Lebanon suspect an attack against Syria.

Afterward, as many as 200 people were briefly detained, mainly Maronite Christians and supporters of exiled Maronite leader Michel Aoun.

The sweep prompted the Maronite patriarch, Nasrallah Sfeir, to accuse the government of making Christians unwelcome in Lebanon. The campaign of arrests “scratched the sectarian scab” in Lebanon, one diplomat said, raising the specter of renewed Christian-Muslim conflict.

Lebanon’s hopes for rehabilitation were strengthened in December when the United States hosted a “Friends of Lebanon” conference that attracted 29 countries.

Hariri, the prime minister, used the occasion to raise pledges of $3.2 billion in contributions for reconstruction.

But President Clinton did not lift the 11-year ban on travel by U.S. citizens to Lebanon, which would have been an important signal to global business that it is safe to invest.

Meanwhile, the anti-Syrian Lebanese opposition is discouraging contributions.

“It is tantamount to throwing money down a sinkhole,” the Council of Lebanese American Organizations, an umbrella for U.S.-based groups that echo the views of exiled Lebanese opposition leader Aoun, said in a statement.

The group said only a fraction of government revenue in Lebanon goes toward reconstruction, while “the bulk . . . ends up in the secret bank accounts of a handful of Syrian and Lebanese officials.”

It is possible that the Syrian presence is a passing phenomenon, tied to the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon.

However, some Lebanese believe that the country could get used to being a colony, as long as it enjoys peace and prosperity.

Daniszewski was recently on assignment in Beirut.