Word: syrian
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...illusions about the reach of Syria's Baath Party regime. The veteran Christian leader blames Damascus for assassinating his brother in 1982, shortly after Bashir Gemayel's election as president of Lebanon. Amin took his brother's place, signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal with Israel and formally asked Syrian troops to exit Lebanon. Instead, the Syrian government supported Lebanese militia groups that drove U.S. peace-keeping troops out of Lebanon, and forced Gemayel to cancel his Israel agreement. Seventeen years after leaving office, Gemayel now believes that a Syrian withdrawal from his country is inevitable, as he explained...
...Amin Gemayel: People believe that Syria is responsible because of the continuous interference of the Lebanese and Syrian intelligence services in Lebanese affairs. I don't know if the investigations will give us the right answer. A few weeks before the assassination, the position and statement of Syrian allies in Lebanon became very hostile and threatening to Hariri, an incitement to commit the crime. Officially, Syria is responsible for the security of Lebanon. If the Syrian intelligence apparatus is not able to protect the country, then they should withdraw. And if they are involved in this crime, they have...
...Amin Gemayel: It was not all of a sudden that the mood changed. The (Syrian-backed) extension of President Emile Lahoud's term of office (in September 2004) was, to use a French expression, the drop that caused the glass to overflow. Before that extension, hope had been raised in hearts and minds of the people. They thought that with a new president, perhaps there will be a new policy and a new era. Their disappointment was like an explosion. Many other things, including the assassination attempt against MP Marwan Hamade, strengthened feelings against the Lebanese government and Syria...
...last week’ assassination of Rafiq Hariri, this notion of civil volatility is all too apparent. Consider the two scenarios for Hariri’s assassination: either Syria is responsible, or they are not. If Syria is in fact accountable, the brutal assassination would be motivated by the Syrian leadership’s desire to reassert its power in Lebanon. In recent months, the U.S. has chosen to lambaste Syria’s presence in Lebanon, subsequently imposing sanctions on the country—an ironic demand considering the American occupation of Iraq. Thus, Damascus may have wanted...
...prefers an orderly Syrian withdrawal that would give international and Lebanese forces time to fill the security void. But the emotions stirred up by Hariri's death have raised the prospect of a far messier outcome. Many Lebanese believe the killing was an attempt by Damascus to halt the snowballing challenge to its hegemony. Hariri's death has galvanized the anti-Syria opposition. "There has been a real and dramatic change," says former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel. In Damascus, Syrian citizens wondered whether Lebanese rage over Hariri's death might provoke insurgent attacks against Syrian troops, which could reignite Lebanon...