Beirut's Great Mystery
THE SUMMONS CAME DOWN FROM Damascus last August, informing [Rafiq Hariri], then the Prime Minister of Lebanon, that he was wanted for a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. For years Hariri had strived to maintain cordial relations with Lebanon's more powerful neighbor, acquiescing to Sy...
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| Published in: | Time Canada Vol. 165; no. 23; p. 22 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Magazine Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Toronto
Time Incorporated
06-06-2005
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| Edition: | Canadian edition |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | THE SUMMONS CAME DOWN FROM Damascus last August, informing [Rafiq Hariri], then the Prime Minister of Lebanon, that he was wanted for a meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad. For years Hariri had strived to maintain cordial relations with Lebanon's more powerful neighbor, acquiescing to Syria's domination of Lebanese politics as the price of Syria's role in ending Lebanon's 15-year civil war. But by last summer Assad suspected that Hariri was behind an international campaign to end Syria's occupation of Lebanon, and so he decided to warn Hariri not to oppose Syrian plans to reassert its influence. In an exchange Hariri later recounted to associates and friends interviewed by TIME, he protested, telling Assad, "I have been a friend of Syria for 20 years," to which Assad replied coldly, "I have only known you for four years." Then Assad issued what Hariri interpreted as a personal threat if he did not bow to Syrian wishes. "I will break Lebanon over your head," Assad said. Hariri quickly began plotting a comeback, aiming to win a landslide victory for his Future Movement in Lebanon's 2005 parliamentary elections. "He concluded that he could not achieve anything with Bashar," [Marwan Hamade], who is recovering from eight operations after surviving the attempt on his life, told TIME. Hariri worked secretly behind the scenes to forge a powerful alliance opposed to [Emile Lahoud] and the Syrians. The so-called Bristol Gathering brought together Christian, Druze and Sunni leaders. "He was the pillar of the opposition" says [Walid Jumblatt]. On Jan. 29, Hariri met with his two main political allies, Basil Fleihan, a Protestant who was his closest economic adviser, and Dr. Ghattas Khoury, a Maronite Christian surgeon. Says Khoury: "After that meeting, we were vocal about our opposition to the Syrians. Rafiq Hariri would not anymore go fifty-fifty with the Syrians." That's the message Hariri had just given Rustum Ghazali, the chief of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon. He rejected Ghazali's demand that pro-Syrian candidates be included on his electoral ticket. "I'm not going to work with people who stab me in the back," Hariri told colleagues. Hariri's swelling defiance made him a target. He avoided the telephone, holding important conversations in secure sites like his garden or the bathroom. "He knew that there was a price in confronting Syria, but he was willing to pay it," says a former Hariri adviser. Hariri jokingly asked Jumblatt, "Who will be assassinated first, you or me?" Still, he shrugged off warnings that he might be killed, claiming to have U.S., French and Saudi assurances for his safety. On Feb. 10, Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. envoy overseeing Resolution 1559's implementation, met Assad in Damascus. According to people familiar with the conversation, Assad was preoccupied with Hariri's brazenness. "There is no opposition" Assad told Roed-Larsen, according to a Hariri aide. "There is only Rafiq Hariri." The next day, Roed-Larsen dined with Hariri in Beirut. Hariri informed Fleihan that Roed-Larsen had warned Hariri that his life might be in danger. Roed-Larsen encouraged Hariri to adopt a less confrontational approach. "You have to be very, very careful," he said. |
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| Bibliography: | ObjectType-General Information-1 content type line 24 SourceType-Magazines-1 |
| ISSN: | 0315-8446 |