Adonis Diaries

The Lion and the hyenas in Lebanon and Syria (1971-2005)

Hafez Assad of Syria died in 2000 of cancer. This dude is a master in holding on to power for 3 decades and enjoying the respect of his foreign enemies and the crippling fear of his citizens to any opinion shared even within the confine of the family.

He was born in a poor family and jumped at the occasion to topple half a dozen military coups in 2 decades, all of them masterminded by the USA and financed by Saudi Arabia. It is recounted that the people in Damascus knew that a coup is being prepared each time the Saudi ambassador leaves.

Hafez denied the airforce support when the regime advanced its tanks to come to the rescue of the Palestinians in Jordan who were being massacred by King Hussein in 1969. Israel just flew over the advancing Syrian tanks and made them backtrack in their advance toward Jordan.

Strong with the backing of Hussein and Saudi Arabia, Hafez did a successful military coup in 1971, put in prison all the political leaders and officers who could challenge his power, including strongmen from his Alawi sect. They rotted in prisons till they died.

In the meantime, he blockaded all the entrances of Damascus by the military so that he could have advance notice of any military attempt to a coup.

When he came to power, Suleiman Frangieh was president in Lebanon. This dude of Frangieh had massacred 40 people in a church in his hometown of Ehden in the mid 1950’s a fled to Syria. Hafez welcomed Frangieh in his home until things cooled down in Lebanon.

Consequently, Hafez was convinced that he could control Lebanon under the presidency of Frangieh who was elected by a single vote majority in 1969.

Actually, Hafez was more intent on controlling most of the potent Palestinian resistance factions in Lebanon and elsewhere in order to strengthen his political and strategic standing.

Yasser Arafat, head of the PLO, gave Hafez a lot of headaches because he wanted to be self-autonomous in dealing with Arabs head of States and the hefty funding he received from the oil-rich countries.

In Sept. of 1973, Hafez coordinated with Sadat of Egypt the counter-offensive on Israel that occupied Sinai and the Golan Heights. The Bar Lev line fell within hours in Sinai on the canal of Suez and the Syrian troops re-occupied all of the Golan in a single day.

Israel warned the US that it will use its nuclear arsenal if no immediate US air supplies are Not forthcoming.  Sadat refrained from advancing in the Sinai according to the deal, on the excuse that the Sam missiles didn’t cover the air space in the Sinai. Israel focused all its power on the Syrian front and recapture the lost occupied land.

Sadat made a peace deal with Israel in 1978 in return of the Sinai, and spoke at the Knesset. Hafez fomented a coalition against Sadat and kicked Egypt from the Arab League.

By 1981, Hafez Assad of Syria was plotting to kill several birds in one shot. The family Al Assad (The Lion) was originally Al Wa7sh (The Beast) before it was changed.

The Palestinian Arafat of the PLO and Sadat of Egypt had started to foment violent opposition by the Syrian Sunni Moslem Brotherhoods against the Alawit Assad regime.

Arafat was the staunchest enemy of Hafez in his attempt to control Lebanon, and Sadat because Hafez directly and publicly opposed Egypt peace deal with Israel.

Hafez negotiated with the Israeli to enter Lebanon and push forward to put siege and then enter Beirut until the PLO is kicked out of Lebanon.

While Israel was engaged in its nth pre-emptive war in Lebanon, Hafez put siege on Hama for 6 months and then entered this stronghold city of the Brotherhood and slaughtered 15,000. The punishment and harassment continued for another 3 decades on the Brotherhoods who opted to immigrate overseas.

After capturing Beirut, Israel reneged on the deal with Hafez and decided to pressure the deputies to elect Bashir Gemayyel (Lebanese Forces leader) as President of Lebanon. Israel went even further by pressuring Bashir to proclaim his intention for a peace treaty with Israel before the swearing ceremony.

Hafez reacted by assassinating Bashir on the eve of the ceremony and followed it by successive martyred car bombing on Israel checkpoints throughout Lebanon.

Israel finally retreated to a swath of land in south Lebanon as was the initial deal.

Sadat was also assassinated during the national military parade by Egypt Moslem Brotherhood.

Since 1983 to 2005, Syria was the main power broker in Lebanon and controlled the internal security.

The Lebanese militia warlord hyenas were on the surface at the beck of Syria dictate.

Actually, they were running the show: Nabih Berry (of the Amal militia), Walid Jumblat (the Druze warlord leader) and the late comer Rafic Hariri (Saudi designate Sunni leader).

When Hafez gets angry and reclaim the spoil, they retract momentarily and satisfy themselves with the carcases.

They were the hyenas who most of the time did the kill and resume the eating when the Lion is kept busy on other Arabic problems.

Even after the Syrian troops retreated from Lebanon in April 2005, the triumvirate (Berry, Jumblat and the Hariri clan) continued to rule and control Lebanon.

They transformed Lebanon political system into an Anomie structure where the politicians are the main business men in Lebanon and holding monopoly over every sector of the economy.

They controlled the Judicial system, the internal security, the syndicates, and almost every institution.

The Constitution was a piece of paper and the Parliament extended its tenure by voting for repeated extensions and increased allowances and privileges.