Ever since the Iranian authorities released French hostages Clotilde Reiss and Nazak Afshar (of Iranian origin) from prison to the French Embassy in Tehran, France has praised the role of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which led to the release. French President Nicholas Sarkozy has saluted President Bashar al-Assad, and newspapers close to Sarkozy, such as Le Figaro, which is considered his official mouthpiece, praised this role and Sarkozy's decision to remove Syria from its isolation and disengage it, in the view of the French, from Iran. Certainly, President al-Assad played a role in moving the two hostages from the Iranian prison to the French Embassy in Tehran, and this is very important for Sarkozy and French public opinion, while it is a humanitarian step that can only be applauded. However, the belief that the Syrian-Iranian alliance is headed for collapse is hugely mistaken. This strong alliance has joint interests in the region; the first example of this is what is happening in Lebanon with Hizbullah and General Michel Aoun. The difficulty of forming a government and the obstacles faced by the prime minister-designate, Saad al-Hariri, are linked to the Iranian-Syrian alliance that was surprised by the results of parliamentary elections in Lebanon, which it lost. It sought to halt the country's democratic path through the Christian ally in order to avoid a new Sunni-Shiite conflict. Syria is aware that releasing the two French hostages is a priority for the French president. President Sarkozy can only praise the role of the President al-Assad and thank him. However, afterward, will he be able to pressure his friend President al-Assad to prompt him to solve the impasse over forming the next Lebanese Cabinet? While Iran did not encourage a coming-together by Syria and Saudi Arabia, and Syria's interest certainly lies in reconciliation with the Kingdom, interests shared with Iran in the region (Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine) are an obstacle in the face of Arab moderates, meaning the two biggest states in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The only thing that distances Syria from Iran is Damascus' reaching a stage of direct negotiations with Israel. When Syria began its talks with Israel, the Iranian leadership blamed Damascus for not informing it about the details of these negotiations. Iran was getting information from Turkey about the matter. Since Israel and its officials do not want peace with Syria, or with the Palestinians, the Iranian-Syrian alliance is stronger during this period. The expected visit by President al-Assad to Iran will demonstrate this. He is going to congratulate his Iranian counterpart and thank him for the credit for releasing the two French hostages, which serves Syria's interest with France and Europe. The Syrian president, with his visit, will give support to the Iranian president locally, as the result of his election was rejected due to the falsification of the majority of the Iranian people's votes, and by a group belonging to the regime as well. The Syrian president has already affirmed to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, during the latter's visit to Damascus in July, that the popular demonstrations in Iran were at the instigation and encouragement of the outside world, and that the legitimacy of the president-elect is not doubted. The situation in Lebanon today is the result of this Iranian-Syrian alliance, which blocks or hinders the country's democratic path. Any country in the world enjoying democracy that sees one group gaining a majority in free elections cannot form a government because the losing side is blocking things in one way or another. If the premier-designate forms a government of the majority without the agreement of the opposition, we will see Lebanon facing political blackmail by the opposition, in setting up tents in the streets of Beirut and blocking life in Lebanon. The prime minister-designate is aware of this possibility; thus, he wants true participation. However, General Aoun, who criticized the candidacy of Minister Nassib Lahoud for president on the grounds that he lost in the parliamentary elections, has forgotten what he said about the candidate of a huge majority of the Lebanese people, and now wants to impose his son-in-law, who lost in the last legislative elections, as a minister in the democratically-elected government recognized by all. Aoun's positions and principles accommodate themselves to family ties, since he insists on seeing his son-in-law as a minister. However, the obstacle of naming Gebran Bassil a minister could have been overcome, if Aoun's strongest ally, Hizbullah, truly wanted to facilitate the formation of the government. This reminds us of what Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said when he visited Paris before the elections in Lebanon. He told Kouchner that “Hizbullah and its allies were going to win in the elections and you will be forced to work with us to move things along in the country.” The Iranian minister's expectations proved to be wrong, but the Iranian regime and its Syrian partner now want to block the democratic path in the way the leadership in Iran did domestically after the presidential elections.
