Bashar Al Assad’s Grin

Amid Israel’s stepped-up military strikes on Lebanon, in retaliation for the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers, it is hard not to wonder how wide a grin Syrian President Bashar Al Assad must be sporting.
President George W. Bush’s assertion holding Damascus responsible for Hezbollah’s actions must have provided much amusement in official Syrian circles.
During earlier Israel-Hezbollah clashes, the American president could pick up the phone and ask President Hafez Al Assad – Bashar’s dad – to sort things out quickly. For all the bad press he got, Assad Sr. was known for keeping promises – at least the parts that he meant seriously.
Hafez Assad’s love-hate relationship with the US was legendary. Syria would be on or around the State Department’s list of states sponsoring terrorism. But Warren Christopher, secretary of state during Bill Clinton’s first term in the White House, would have no problem waiting for hours in Damascus to meet the wily old man.
These days, things have gotten a lot complicated, especially since last year when Syria was forced to pull out its troops from Lebanon. Lots of Lebanese disliked the presence of Israeli troops in the south, too. The Israelis withdrew in 2000, providing the rest of the world the unencumbered opportunity to focus its pressure on the Syrians.
The assassination of Rafik Hariri, the billionaire former prime minister of Lebanon, in February last year sealed the Syrians’ fate. The suspected complicity of Syrian government officials in the assassination triggered widespread revulsion, eventually forcing Bashar to call his 14,000 forces home.
The crafty Syrians didn’t exactly lose from the pullout, though. Damascus still calls the shots in Lebanon, especially when it comes to Hezbollah. But now the Syrians don’t feel they have to take responsibility.
Against the backdrop of the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of Lebanese targets, some in the Hariri family, too, must be having second thoughts about the wisdom of evicting the Syrians.