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What have U.S.-Syria
relations been like since September 11?
Complicated, experts
say. Syria and the United States have shared intelligence
about al-Qaeda, according to U.S. government sources, and
FBI and CIA officials have reportedly traveled to Syria to
meet with Syrian intelligence officers. The two countries
are also said to be cooperating to gather information about
what the September 11 hijacker Muhammad Atta did while
researching his university thesis in the Syrian city of
Aleppo in the 1990s and about Syrian-born individuals who
investigators say were connected to the al-Qaeda cell in
Hamburg, Germany, involved in the September 11 attacks.
Syria has reportedly allowed U.S. officials to put questions
to an alleged al-Qaeda associate who it’s holding, a
Syrian-born German citizen first detained in Morocco.
But Syria has been less forthcoming about terrorist
groups closer to home, whose anti-Israel attacks Syria
considers legitimate resistance. In April 2002, President
Bush warned, “Syria has spoken out against al-Qaeda. We
expect it to act against Hamas and Hezbollah as well.” As
the Israeli-Palestinian crisis escalated in spring 2002,
Hezbollah stepped up its attacks on a disputed border area
held by Israel. Vice President Cheney called Asad to
complain, and Secretary of State Colin Powell visited
Damascus in April 2002 to urge Syria to restrain Hezbollah.
Was Syria
involved in the Arab-Israeli peace process?
Yes—up to a point. Syria fought Israel in 1948, 1967
(when it lost the Golan Heights), 1973, and 1982 and still
does not recognize the Jewish state. In 1974, the sides
signed their first pact, a U.S.-brokered
separation-of-forces deal. After the 1991 Gulf War, Syrian
Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shaara attended the Arab-Israeli
peace conference in Madrid. But subsequent 1990s attempts to
swap the Golan Heights for peace and normal relations
failed, despite extensive U.S. involvement. Syria also
housed several Palestinian terror groups opposed to Yasir
Arafat’s 1993 peace deal with Israel. In April 2002, Syria
signed onto an Arab League peace proposal, pushed by Saudi
Arabia, that proposed trading “normal relations” with Israel
for an Israeli pullback to its 1967 borders, a return for
Palestinian refugees, and a Palestinian state.
Does Syria
sit on the U.N. Security Council?
Yes. In October 2001, the U.N.’s Asian bloc chose Syria
to take a Security Council seat, despite Western complaints
about having a dictatorship linked to terrorism on such an
important body. (Two-year terms on the Security Council are
allocated by the U.N. regional groups.) The United States
did not mount a major campaign to block the Syrian bid. Once
on the U.N. Security Council, Syria raised American ire in
January 2002 by comparing Israeli demolition of houses in
the Gaza Strip to the World Trade Center attack and by
abstaining from a March 2002 resolution calling for an
Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire that Syria saw as
insufficiently critical of Israel.
Is Lebanon a
haven for terrorists?
Yes. Terrorist organizations operating in Lebanon include
the radical Shiite militia Hezbollah, several Palestinian
groups—Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front
for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine-General Command—as well as the
Abu Nidal Organization, al-Jihad, Asbat al-Ansar, the
Japanese Red Army, and some local radical Sunni Muslim
organizations. Moreover, since the end of its devastating
15-year civil war in 1990, Lebanon has been largely
controlled by Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism.
What is the
most powerful terrorist group in Lebanon?
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U.S. embassy annex after suicide bombing, Beirut,
Lebanon, 1984.
(AP Photo) |
Hezbollah, which operates with the approval of Syria and
receives massive weapons shipments and military training
from its founders in Iran. It is based principally in
Beirut, Lebanon’s Shiite-dominated south, and the Bekaa
Valley. U.S. officials worry that Hezbollah attacks on
northern Israel could open a second front in the current
Israeli-Palestinian crisis and have urged Lebanon and Syria
to rein in the group.
Hezbollah is also an effective political party in Lebanon
and holds 12 of the 128 seats in the Lebanese parliament.
Since 2000, Hezbollah has increasingly asserted its
influence among Lebanon’s Shiite Muslims—the country’s
largest religious group—by establishing social programs,
hospitals, and schools.
How did
Lebanon come to be controlled by Syria?
After gaining independence from French control in 1944,
Lebanon grew into a thriving trade and financial center, and
its political system—based on power-sharing among religious
groups—was hailed as a model of multiethnic cooperation. But
in 1975, a civil war broke out between Lebanon’s Muslim
majority and its ruling Maronite Christian elite that left
the country vulnerable to manipulation by neighboring states
and terrorist groups.
Many Syrians have long considered Lebanon part of
“greater Syria,” and in 1976, the Arab League supported a
Syrian military intervention after attempts by Western and
Arab countries to mediate Lebanon’s civil war failed. Tens
of thousands of Syrian troops marched into Lebanon and
eventually joined the Sunni-Palestinian coalition in its
fight against the Maronite Christians. In 1991, Syria’s
control of Lebanon was cemented by the Treaty of
Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination.
Have
terrorists attacked Americans in Lebanon?
Yes. Hezbollah repeatedly targets Americans. In 1983 and
1984, more than 250 Americans were killed in suicide bombing
attacks on a U.S. Marine barracks, the U.S. embassy, and the
U.S. embassy annex in Lebanon. A U.S. Navy diver was shot
during the 1985 terrorist hijacking of TWA flight 847 in
Beirut, and terrorists kidnapped and held hostage several
Americans in Lebanon during the course of the last two
decades
These attacks came after the United States sent troops to
Lebanon in 1982 in an attempt to quiet tensions following
the Israeli invasion and to help promote nation-building.
Hezbollah was blamed for carrying out the attacks under the
direction of its sponsor, the Islamist, anti-American
Iranian regime led by the Ayatollah Khomeini. Following the
1983-84 suicide bombings, the Reagan administration withdrew
U.S. troops from Lebanon.
How did
Lebanon become a haven for terrorists?
Armed Palestinian groups began launching attacks against
Israel from Lebanon following the Six Day War in 1967.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in refugee camps
in Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
based itself in the country after being expelled from Jordan
in 1970.
The outbreak of Lebanon’s civil war in 1975 caused the
number of armed groups operating in the country to
skyrocket. Among them was a radical Shiite militia called
the Lebanese Resistance Detachments (known by its Arabic
acronym, Amal), which forged an alliance with Khomeini’s
Shiite regime after Khomeini came to power through the 1979
Iranian revolution. In 1982, Iran created the Hezbollah
militia to fight Israeli forces, which had invaded Lebanon
to destroy the PLO’s Lebanese base.
What has the
Lebanese government done to crack down on terrorists?
Not much. The Lebanese government has cooperated in some
international counterterrorism measures and has arrested al-Qaeda
members. But it backed Hezbollah’s 1990s attacks on Israel
and refuses to interfere with the group’s ongoing attacks
against Israeli troops in the disputed border region known
as Shebaa Farms. (Lebanon considers Shebaa Farms to be
Lebanese territory under Israeli occupation, but the United
Nations considers it to be a part of Syria and says that
Israel has withdrawn completely from Lebanon.)
Lebanon has also refused U.S. demands to turn over
Lebanese terrorists involved in the 1985 hijacking of TWA
flight 847 and in the abduction, torture, and murder of U.S.
hostages from 1984 to 1991. At the same time, the regime has
only limited influence over Hezbollah and Palestinian
militants. Moreover, it lacks control of some of Beirut and
of the lawless, drug-ridden Bekaa Valley, as well as of many
Palestinian refugee camps and the southern border region.
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Are there al-Qaeda
members in Lebanon?
Yes. Experts
say that an undetermined number of Lebanese al-Qaeda
operatives were expelled from Afghanistan by
American forces and are now returning home.
Several media sources, including ABC News, have
reported that members of Hezbollah, Hamas, and al-Qaeda
met in Lebanon in March 2002 to discuss
coordinating attacks on the United States. On the
other hand, CNN has reported that the meeting was
between members of Hamas and Hezbollah only, and
that reports of an al-Qaeda presence there, as
well as the purpose of the meeting itself, could
not be confirmed. Experts see significant
obstacles to any alliance between Hezbollah, a
Shiite group, and al-Qaeda, which until late 2001
operated under the protection of the fiercely
anti-Shiite Taliban.
Do
other Lebanese terrorist groups have ties to al-Qaeda?
Yes. Experts say that the radical Palestinian
group Asbat al-Ansar has ties to al-Qaeda.
According to the State Department, Asbat al-Ansar—a
group of about 300 fighters operating from a
refugee camp in southern Lebanon—aims to overthrow
the Lebanese government and probably receives
funding from al-Qaeda, as well as from
international Sunni extremist networks. In October
2001, Lebanese security forces arrested two Asbat
al-Ansar members suspected of planning an attack
on the U.S. embassy in Beirut.
How
did Lebanon react to September 11?
Lebanon condemned the attacks but refused U.S.
demands to freeze Hezbollah assets. Lebanese
officials consider Hezbollah attacks on Israel to
be legitimate resistance.
Is
Lebanon in favor of Syrian control?
Experts say that while Lebanon’s Sunnis and
Shiites would like to see Syrian rule end, the
militia-backed political factions that actually
run the country are divided on the issue.
Lebanon’s Maronite president, Emile Lahoud, and
its Sunni prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri, were
both handpicked by Syria and support the interests
of their Syrian sponsors. However, since the
retreat of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon in
2000, an increasing number of Lebanese, have begun
to call for the withdrawal of the approximately
25,000 Syrian troops now stationed in Lebanon.
Recent polls by the US Committee for a Free
Lebanon, Inc., (USCFL) , the largest Lebanese
American grass roots organization in the world, show
that 89% of the Lebanese people are for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of
Syrian military and intelligence forces from
Lebanese territory.
Syria defends its occupation by arguing that
Lebanon’s own armed forces cannot maintain order.
It adds that Lebanon’s government has yet to
implement all of the constitutional reforms of the
Taif accord, a 1989 agreement that shifted
executive power from the Christian president to
the Sunni prime minister and gave Muslims more
influence within Lebanese politics.
Is
foreign investment returning to Lebanon?
Yes, but it’s far below prewar levels. Some
international banks and insurance companies have
returned, and a campaign of deregulation and
economic liberalization launched by Prime Minister
Hariri (himself a former construction tycoon) has
been partially successful. But the country is
still burdened by a staggering national debt,
political uncertainty, and one of the largest
budget deficits in the world. |
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