Last Syrian Troops Out of Lebanon

The last Syrian soldiers in Lebanon packed into ramshackle buses and rumbled homeward Tuesday, putting an end to 29 years of Syrian military domination of its neighbor.

There was a carnival atmosphere in the Bekaa Valley as the soldiers crossed over the border. On a dusty hillside nearby, young Lebanese men formed a circle and broke into a victory dance to celebrate their country’s newfound sovereignty. Women joined in, clapping and stomping. They waved Lebanese flags and cheered as music poured from a pickup truck.

But many Lebanese were frightened about political uncertainty, sectarian divisions and the threat of violence that still shadow the country. Lebanon has to prepare for crucial parliamentary elections this spring to establish its first autonomous government since its civil war ended in 1990.

The country will also have to grapple with the role of Hezbollah, a powerful Shiite Muslim political party and militia backed by Syria and Iran. The group has always kept its distance from the government, but may take on a more central role now that Syria is gone.

“It’s a victory day, an independence day. We’re watching the return of sovereignty to the Lebanese territories,” said Fares Souaid, a Maronite Christian lawmaker and prominent Syria opponent. “But now the Lebanese have to face their own problems, and to begin to build a new state.”

In a pine-shaded military base in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanese and Syrian soldiers bid one another goodbye Tuesday morning under a blue sky. Most of the Syrian soldiers, whose numbers peaked at 40,000 during the civil war, had already crossed the border, but the ceremony marked the formal end of Syria’s military presence.

“Lebanon will endure. Its rocks, its mountains, its waters will stay,” Syrian army chief Ali Habib said in farewell remarks to soldiers of both armies. “And that’s thanks to the Syrian military presence, which ensured the unity of Lebanon.”

Habib spoke of the “deep, brotherly feelings” between Syria and Lebanon, and pledged that the relationship would grow even closer in coming years.

“Brothers in arms, so long,” he told the Lebanese soldiers.

“So long,” they replied in unison. The army bands played both national anthems, and awards were traded.

Then the Syrian soldiers marched silently over the blacktop and clambered aboard buses plastered with the faces of their president, Bashar Assad, and his late father, former President Hafez Assad.

Tuesday’s withdrawal represented a loss of regional clout for the Syrian government in Damascus. Control over Lebanon and sway over Hezbollah gave Syria a bargaining tool in any peace talks with Israel.

Without Lebanon, Syria has limited negotiating leverage. Analysts say Damascus is now considered a weaker shadow of the tightly controlled state under Hafez Assad.

As their buses wended the last few miles through green fields and vineyards to the border, beaming Syrian soldiers waved goodbye to curious Lebanese who had gathered along the road to watch them pass. Many of the Lebanese waved back; a few even called out the names of soldiers they recognized.

“To Damascus, to Damascus,” one young Syrian soldier chanted, flashing a toothy grin.

“It’s time for them to leave, but I don’t have any aggressive feelings toward them,” said Kawkab Maalouf, a 30-year-old woman who paused outside her hair salon to watch the Syrians pass. “Syria has sacrificed a lot here.”

The retreat of the Syrians was a scene that few Lebanese thought possible just a few months ago. Although anti-Syria resentment festered quietly for years, most people resisted voicing it for fear of retribution. Moreover, few Lebanese believed that the international community would bother to intervene in their plight.

Syrian soldiers crossed into Lebanon in 1976 at the invitation of a Maronite Christian government looking for protection during the civil war that broke out the year before. Syria became an active party in the war, fighting against, in turn, Palestinian guerrillas, Israeli soldiers and Lebanese militias of various sects. Thousands of Syrians died in Lebanon’s war; a marble plaque was dedicated in their memory Tuesday.

Syria’s role shifted in 1989, when the international community gave Damascus approval to stay in Lebanon to help keep the peace between warring clans and religious groups. Once the fighting calmed down, Syria was supposed to retreat.

But the soldiers never left. Instead, Syrian domination spread into the Lebanese military, parliament and business community. Wide swathes of Lebanese society grew to resent the Syrians and to view their presence as a military occupation.

Two months ago, the assassination of popular former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri stirred the anti-Syria sentiment to a new frenzy. Hariri was Lebanon’s most powerful Sunni Muslim, and he had resigned in protest over Syrian meddling. Many Lebanese blamed Syria for his killing, which still hasn’t been solved. Damascus has denied any role.

Lebanese spilled onto the streets of Beirut, openly cursing Syria. Sunnis joined Druze and Christians in calling for a Syrian withdrawal. Their outrage was echoed by the international community; even such Syrian allies as Saudi Arabia and Russia urged Assad to obey a U.N. Security Council resolution ordering all foreign forces to withdraw. The United States and France co-sponsored the resolution, and heaped pressure on Damascus to retreat.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday announcing that the retreat from Lebanon had been completed. A U.N. team was sent to Lebanon to verify the withdrawal and to check whether intelligence agents had also left, Annan said.

In Washington, the Bush administration hailed the withdrawal as “a historic day” for Lebanon. But U.S. officials said the administration would await a report by the U.N. verification team.

The question of whether Syria’s intelligence agents have relinquished their grip on the country is hotly debated here. Although top Syrian intelligence officers have vacated their offices, many Lebanese fear that undercover Syrian agents have stayed behind. Some opposition leaders say Syrian agents have set up offices on the outskirts of Beirut.

There is also widespread concern that Damascus, working through Lebanese proxies, will continue to tamper with Lebanese politics. The threat is particularly keen as Lebanon’s interim government labors to finalize voting laws for a scheduled May election.

“They’re very good at playing these games. From the window of a car you won’t know whether the Mukhabarat [intelligence service] has retreated,” said Reinoud Leenders, a Beirut-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. “I’m assuming the Syrian Mukhabarat won’t be able to resist interfering in the elections.”

Because Lebanese politics are divided along sectarian lines, religious groups are lobbying to draw up voting districts so that they will gain power in the new government. Tension over gerrymandering raises concerns that old sectarian animosities will flare once again.

As Syrian soldiers leave the country, old leaders are resurfacing.

Gen. Michel Aoun, the former Lebanese army commander who served as interim prime minister until he was defeated by Syria and fled the country in 1991, has said he would return next month from exile in Paris.

Lawmakers are also pushing for the release of Samir Geagea, a powerful Christian militia leader who is serving three life sentences for assassinating political rivals. His supporters, along with Amnesty International, have criticized his trial as unfair.

The two men would join the other former warlords who have been running Lebanon since the civil war.

“We don’t need the same political class that essentially manufactured the war, benefited from the war and gave itself an amnesty after the war,” said Karim Makdisi, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. “Too many people are ignoring this repetition in the euphoria to get Syria out. Now there’s a tendency to say it’s all the Syrians’ fault.”

With Syrian soldiers gone, Lebanon will also have to confront the future of Hezbollah. Annan made a thinly veiled swipe at the party in a report released Tuesday, pointing out that a U.N. Security Council order to disarm Lebanon’s militias had not been obeyed.

The United States considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but within Lebanon the party is seen as a reputable political and social organization with a heroic history of fighting Israel. In the five years since Israel retreated from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah’s insistence on preserving its role as a militia has unsettled some Lebanese.

But even among those who consider Hezbollah’s arms an unnecessary liability, many tend to bridle at foreign pressure to disarm the guerrillas. Some Lebanese talk about the possibility of incorporating Hezbollah’s guerrillas into the national army.

When anti-Syria protests were at their most virulent this year, Hezbollah staged a massive demonstration to support Syria. But Hezbollah officials said that the party was uncomfortable with Syria’s domination of Lebanon, and that it had not suggested that Syria should stay. A Hezbollah spokesman said Tuesday that the party would have no comment on the withdrawal of Syrian soldiers.

Some Lebanese turned out Tuesday to thank the departing soldiers. Others came to celebrate their departure. On the roadsides of the Bekaa Valley, it was hard to tell the difference. Houses that had been occupied by the Syrians for years stood abandoned; their owners came back to check on the dwellings.

“I had tears in my eyes,” said Shaaban Ajani, the mayor of a small town in the Bekaa Valley. He hadn’t been inside his home, nestled in fig and almond trees, for two decades.

“They’ve ruined it,” he said, “but we’ll fix it.”

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A long, troubled relationship

Syria ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon on Tuesday with the withdrawal of its remaining troops. Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers during the country’s civil war and remained after the war ended in 1990.

Major events in Lebanese-Syrian relations

1975: Civil war breaks out in Lebanon.

1976: Syria sends troops to help keep peace.

1978: Israel invades Lebanon in pursuit of Palestinian guerrillas.

1982: Israel invades Lebanon again, drives Syrian army from several areas; President-elect Bashir Gemayel is assassinated.

1983: U.S. warplanes hit Syrian positions in Lebanon in retaliation for Syrian-backed attacks on the U.S. peacekeeping force.

1987: Syria sends troops into West Beirut to enforce cease-fire.

1988: Outgoing President Amin Gemayel appoints Lebanese army commander Gen. Michel Aoun as interim prime minister.

1989: Aoun wages “war of liberation” against Syrian forces.

1990: Syrian forces defeat army under Aoun.

1991: Pro-Syrian President Elias Hrawi signs Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination with Syrian President Hafez Assad.

1996: Israel attacks Hezbollah headquarters near Beruit and other targets linked to the group in response to increased Hezbollah rocketing of its northern communities.

1998: Pro-Syrian Lebanese army commander, Gen. Emile Lahoud, is elected president.

2000: Syria begins first of five redeployments.

2004: U.N. Security Council demands that all foreign forces withdraw from Lebanon.

February 2005: Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri is killed by bomb in Beirut; Lebanese opposition blames Syria; thousands demonstrate against Syria.

March 5: Syria announces a two-stage pullback of its 14,000 troops.

April 26: Last Syrian soldiers leave Lebanon.