Saudi Gazette Foreign relations Hafez Al-Assad, the father, handed the novice Bashar the Lebanese file in 1995 because of the complexity of relations between Syria and Lebanon. Bashar, copycatted his father and the Baath party policy of considering Lebanon “a Syrian village” applying the time-old principle of: “Divide and conquer.” In 1988, Bashar manipulated the Lebanese political scene for the inauguration of the Lebanese President Emile Lahood; he later used corrupt pro-Syria politicians to, unconstitutionally, extend Lahood's presidential term three more years using regional circumstances pretext. Assad's first official foreign trip was to meet Jacques Chirac in 1999; it was obligatory to visit Paris which is the de facto holder of the Lebanese file strings. The Middle Eastern Quarterly noted that “… there are lingering questions of Syrian payments to French politicians. The board of the France-Syria Friendship Association boasts among its members: former prime minister Raymond Barre, former secretary of state Claude Cheysson, and the-then –presidential- hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy”. United States, European Union, March 14 Alliance, and France accuse Assad of logistically supporting militant groups aimed at Israel. Following Iraq invasion by coalition forces, Bashar was accused of supporting the Iraqi insurgency; a US general accused him of providing funding, logistics, and training to Iraqi and non-Arab Muslims to launch attacks against U.S. and coalition forces in Iraq. The February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the accusation of Syrian involvement and support for anti-Israeli groups, helped precipitate a crisis in relations with the United States. Assad was criticized for Syria's presence in Lebanon which ended in 2005; and the US put Syria under sanctions. Commenting on Hariri's assassination, a retired Mosad officer was quoted saying: “A black ant, under the black curtain of night, anywhere in Lebanon, has to take permission from Bashar to go to toilet.” In the Arab world, Bashar mended relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization but relations with many Arab states badly deteriorated. This is in part due to Bashar's continued intervention in Lebanon and his alliance with Iran. After the 2005 Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, many Arab and Western diplomats hold firmly Syrian involvement, at least facilitative role, as Hariri was anti-Syrian. However, Assad argued that Syria's gradual withdrawal of troops, beginning in 2000, was precipitated by Hariri's assassination and ended in May 2005. In 2011, Assad told the Wall Street Journal that he considered himself “anti-Israel” and “anti-West”, and that because of these policies he was not in danger of being overthrown. Despite gaining re-election in 2007, Bashar's position was weakened by the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon following the Cedar Revolution” in 2005. Wiki leaks The US charge d'affaires in Damascus, Maura Connelly sent a cable in 2009 and was published last January, 2010 where he stated: “Deceit is top of the list of qualities marking Syrian diplomatic relations; SARG [Syrian government] officials lie at every level, they persist in a lie even in the face of evidence to the contrary.” The portrait painted here fits with the behavior of the regime towards its own people and the international community during the last six months: brutal and defiant. The cable went to describe the Syrian regime as willing to be “nasty” and using a style “at best abrasive and, at its worst, brutal” to achieve its aims” Connelly wrote. The embattled president is described as less shrewd than his father, with a self-image as “a sort of philosopher king, the Pericles of Damascus” that influences policy. The cable also exemplifies why the regime has been caught short by a generation of young people who use social media to disseminate information about the crackdown. A cable from December 13, 2006 featured a collection of possible actions that could be taken to undermine the Bashar régime. The vulnerabilities listed include: the Rafik Hariri investigation and tribunal; the alliance with Tehran; the regime's “inner circle”; divisions in the military-security services; the corrupt Baathist elites; previous failures of reform; the economy; the Kurds; extremists and the “Khaddam factor” 2011 uprising Protests in Syria started on January 26, 2011; and were influenced by other protests in the region. Protesters have been calling for political reforms and the reinstatement of civil rights, as well as an end to the state of emergency which has been in place since 1963. On 18 May 2011, US President Barack Obama signed an Executive order putting into effect sanctions against Bashar in an effort to pressure his regime “to end its use of violence against its people and begin transitioning to a democratic system that protects the rights of the Syrian people.” The sanctions effectively freeze any of the Syrian President's assets either in the United States proper or within US jurisdiction. On May 23, 2011 EU Foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Brussels to add Bashar and nine other officials to a list affected by travel bans and asset freezes. On 20 June 2011, in a speech lasting nearly an hour, in response to the demands of protesters and foreign pressure, Al-Assad promised a “national dialogue” involving movement toward reform, new parliamentary elections, and greater freedoms. He also urged refugees to return home from Turkey, while assuring them amnesty and blaming all unrest on a small number of “saboteurs”. (Concluded) __
