The U.S. Senate yesterday approved the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration by a vote of 89-4. The bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives last month, calls on Syria to "immediately declare its commitment to completely withdraw its armed forces, including military, paramilitary, and security forces, from Lebanon, and set a firm timetable for such withdrawal."
The bill also states that the Lebanese government should deploy Lebanese armed forces in all areas of Lebanon (including the southern border) in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 520, so as to assert the sovereignty of the Lebanese state over all its territory. It adds that Lebanon should evict all terrorist and foreign forces from Southern Lebanon, including "Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards". The U.S. government regards Hizbullah as a terrorist group.
The act has received much criticism from Arab and international political circles, most saying that the law was motivated by the Zionist lobby in the United States. A large number of political and religious figures in Lebanon and other Arab countries have condemned the bill and voiced their solidarity with Syria to resist pressure.
After both houses' approval of the act, it will be referred to U.S. President George W. Bush. It states that the U.S. government would impose economic sanctions on Syria if Damascus failed to comply with the act's demands, but would continue to grant Lebanon financial aid to promote development.
Former army commander Gen. Michel Aoun appeared before a congressional committee in September to show support for the act. He was later charged here with disturbing relations with Syria and instigating sectarian sentiment.
President Emile Lahoud told top Syrian officials that he prefers to complete the last year of his term with a Prime Minister other than Rafiq Hariri, our sources said today. Lahoud's position in the matter was clearer than at any time before, said the sources, who include aides to Lahoud and politicians close to Damascus. "They only asked Lahoud to think more about the matter," one source told The Daily Star, recalling that Syrian officials had refused to consider calls by Lahoud to replace Hariri on several occasions, citing instability in South Lebanon and Iraq as reasons why political stability was needed in Lebanon.
Lahoud is critical of Hariri's economic and financial policies, including his plans to privatize some state-owned companies, in line with the requirements of the "Paris II" conference of donor countries last year. For his part, Hariri opposes plans by Lahoud to spend more public funds on social and healthcare services, fearing that additional expenditure would increase the budget deficit.
A source close to Hariri described Lahoud's reported plans to remove the Prime Minister "as mere talk that doesn't mean anything." Another source said a minister who is at odds with Hariri was behind the reports. He would not name the minister. Lahoud and the Syrian officials he met did not agree on a replacement for Hariri. Cabinet sessions are still under the negative impact of the Lahoud-Hariri dispute that broke out on the 2004 draft budget last month and only ended after Syrian officials pressed for a compromise.
Another source said the President feared that Hariri might work against a constitutional amendment permitting Lahoud's re-election for another term or an extension of his current one. Lahoud believes that Hariri is trying to make him appear as an obstacle to development projects, thus decreasing his chances of staying in office. According to his sources, the President wants to end his term with real reforms like the ones he promised to achieve in his 1998 inauguration speech but has failed to deliver due to political tensions.
