Beirut: Syria has bounced back from years of international isolation and is wielding its influence in crises around the Middle East, shrugging off US attempts to pull it away from its alliances with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.
Damascus played a role in helping Iraq's fractious politicians agree this month to form a new government after eight months of deadlock. Now with Lebanon's factions heading for a possible new violent collision, Arabs have had to turn to Syria in hopes of ensuring peace, even as Damascus backs Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Washington has increasingly expressed its frustration with Syria, which it says is stirring up tension through its support of Hezbollah. Last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Syria's behaviour "has not met our hopes and expectations" over the past 20 months and that it has "not met its international obligations."
Since 2005, Washington — along with its Arab allies — hoped to squeeze Syrian influence out of its smaller neighbour Lebanon. But Arab powers that once shunned Damascus, particularly Saudi Arabia, have had to acknowledge its regional weight.
Differences
This month, Syrian and Saudi officials have been holding talks trying to avert an explosion in Lebanon. It is a remarkable turnaround from several years ago, when the two countries were locked in a bitter rivalry and differences of opinion between their leaders, Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz.
Fears of violence in Lebanon are high because an international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri is expected soon to indict members of Hezbollah.
Many Lebanese fear that could break the country's fragile unity government grouping Hezbollah and pro-Western parties loyal to Hariri's son, Sa'ad, who is the current Prime Minister, and even lead to clashes between the two sides. With Syria's backing, Hezbollah demands Sa'ad Hariri break off Lebanon's ties with the tribunal.
Little is known about the Syrian-Saudi talks, but Lebanon's daily As Safir reported last Monday that the contacts have produced a five-point compromise plan in which Hariri, a close Saudi ally, is likely to declare Hezbollah innocent of the assassination once the tribunal issues indictments.
Setback for US
Such a deal would be a setback for Washington, which has pressed for support of the tribunal, and for pro-US factions in Lebanon who fear the country is coming under Hezbollah's thumb.
But it would mark a new success for Syria and illustrate how it has come to restore its regional clout largely on its own terms. It has done so while ignoring incentives from Washington. US President Barack Obama has made repeated overtures to Damascus this year, nominating the first US ambassador to Syria since 2005 and sending top diplomats to meet Al Assad, in hopes of swaying it away from its alliance with Iran and regional fighter groups.
Still, "Syria did not abandon Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah or its principles regarding the [Mideast] peace process," said Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst who is the editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine.
Chilled relations
Relations with Washington have now chilled before they even had a chance to fully warm up.
Last month, Al Assad accused the US of sowing chaos around the world.
"Is Afghanistan stable? Is Somalia stable? Did they bring stability to Lebanon in 1983?" Al Assad told Al Hayat newspaper, referring to US intervention in Lebanon's 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990.
US Ambassador Susan Rice in turn accused Syria of displaying "flagrant disregard" for Lebanon's sovereignty, citing its provision of increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hezbollah and other fighter groups in violation of a UN resolution.
