According to the media group of Tasnim news agency, August 10, 1920 can be considered one of the fateful points of Islamic societies; The period in which the last survivors of the Ottoman Empire declared the end of the Ottoman Empire in a one-sided treaty called Sur, and most of the countries under the control of this empire came under the guardianship of the superior powers in the First World War (France, Russia and Britain).
26 years after the conclusion of the Treaty of Sur and under the changes caused by the Second World War, the governments of Syria and Lebanon jointly gained their independence in April 1946 with the departure of the last French soldiers.
The unique position of Lebanon during different periods and the ethnic-religious pluralism ruling this country has caused that despite the passage of almost 8 decades since the departure of the French military, Beirut is still deprived of the necessary political independence despite being accepted as an independent state in the international community.
The roots of the historical tensions between Syria and Lebanon go back to the defeat of the Syrian independence fighters from the French military in June 1920 in the so-called Mislon war and the 26-year conquest of this area by the colonialists. In 1920, General Henri Gaurou, the commander of the French, divided Syria into 6 independent states based on tribe and religion: Damascus, Aleppo, Al-Alawiin, Greater Lebanon, Jabal al-Durzi and Sinjag Iskenderun.
The government of Greater Lebanon later separated from Syria and became today’s Lebanon, which was never accepted by Syrians, but due to the majority Christian population at the time of Greater Lebanon, it managed to gain its independence with the support of the French. Pinjag Iskenderun was occupied by the Turkish government at the same time.
The small country of 7 million people, Lebanon, due to the presence of many ethnic groups and religions such as Maronite Christians, Shiites, Sunnis, Alevis, Armenians, Druze, Catholic Christians, Ismailis, Greek Orthodox and Kurds, has been pregnant with various crises many times. Crises that sometimes have their roots in internal tensions and sometimes are caused by surrounding developments. The bloody 15-year civil war of this country is called one of the longest civil wars in the world; A period in which Lebanon was the scene of a vast ethnic-religious conflict and a large group of international guerrillas, including the Palestinian Fatah militia, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Iranian guerrillas against the Shah’s regime, etc., chose the Bekaa Valley of this country as a safe haven for guerrilla warfare training.
The neighborhood of this area with the occupied land, the large presence of Palestinian militias driven from the motherland and the territorial expansionism of the Zionists, have repeatedly brought Lebanon into bloody conflicts and occupied large areas of this country by the Zionist regime. At one point, the Zionist army even succeeded in bringing the puppet government and army led by “Antoine Lahad” to power in Lebanon.
In the middle of the civil war, Elias Sarkis, the president of Lebanon at the time, who was supported by Syria, facilitated the entry of Syrian troops into Lebanon in order to reduce tensions in the country. Soldiers who have been directly present in Syria for 29 years and played a significant role in the internal politics of this country.
Regardless of the Zionist regime and Syria, the predominance of religious ties has provided the ground for factions of Lebanese to be close to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, the UAE, France, and Qatar over many decades.
The purpose of the above introduction is the recent controversial statements of Trump’s special representative in the region, Tom Barak, about Lebanon; Positions that have angered all Lebanese, from forces close to the resistance to Western forces. In his recent meeting in Doha, Barak raised the idea of integrating Lebanon into Syria by challenging Lebanon’s legal position in the international community. Barak has openly stated: “It is necessary to bring Lebanon and Syria closer to each other and align these two ancient and beautiful civilizations.” The United States wants to find solutions to the crises in Lebanon and Syria, taking into account that nation-states were created only at the beginning of the 20th century, while the civilizations of the region are based on the “tribe-family” model. We must unite Syria and Lebanon, because they represent a magnificent civilization.”
Barak’s key position in the US government has caused regional observers to deeply analyze why Barak proposed such a sensitive issue, on the first anniversary of the fall of the Assad regime and the supremacy of Tahrir al-Sham over Damascus.
The track record of Trump’s governance, whether in his first term in the White House or in the last year, is full of policies in which the government, in the face of international challenges, deviated from the administrative mechanisms and special tasks specific to each of these institutions and resorted to the people trusted by the president himself to achieve the desired result.
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s special role in designing the plan for the deal of the century and his actions in the ceasefire process in the Gaza Strip and Steve Wittkoff’s special position in the cases of Ukraine, Iran and the regional crises are suitable examples in this field.
Tom Barak, the US ambassador to Türkiye and Trump’s plenipotentiary representative for Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, is mentioned as one of the most influential people around Trump. This politician of Lebanese origin, like the other close circle of the president, is counted among Trump’s personal friends and before entering politics, he has decades of experience in the field of private real estate in the United States. Therefore, Barak’s position regarding the integration of Lebanon in Syria has attracted the attention of regional observers. Regarding the goals of the United States of advancing such a policy, the following can be mentioned:
A- Marginalizing the dynamic Lebanese Shiite society and making them passive
Despite Lebanon’s ethnic-religious plurality, the country’s Shiite community is called the largest Lebanese minority. The Lebanese authorities (mainly Christians) have refused to implement a new census program in this country for many decades, because according to some surveys and field observations, the majority of the Lebanese Christian community has left the country and, in parallel, the Shiite population has increased significantly; This can lead to protests in the Shia community about the way of dividing power and giving key positions to Lebanese Christians and Sunnis.
The strong relationship between the Lebanese Shiites and Iran is not limited to the Islamic Republic period, but is at least 500 years old and goes back to the migration of some Shiite scholars from Jabal Amal and Baalbek to Iran during the Safavid period.
During the last 2 decades, the Lebanese Shia community has become the most cohesive large minority in Lebanon and has played a significant role in determining the macro policies of this country. The large population ratio of Syria (at least 30 million people with a 65% majority of Sunni Arabs in this country) to Lebanon of 7 million with a population of 2.5 million Shiites in this country has caused Barak to propose the idea of integrating Lebanon into Syria, while promoting the policy of digesting and marginalizing Lebanese Shiites in a possible big country, practically cutting off the harmonious relationship of the Islamic Republic with this fateful minority in the future.
B- Advancing the Hezbollah disarmament project
Despite the fact that a year has passed since the signing of the ceasefire agreement between the Zionist regime and Hezbollah, the United States has taken a step towards isolating Hezbollah and forcing it to accept disarmament by giving special support to the Tel Aviv regime and threatening and persuading the Lebanese government on the necessity of disarming the resistance.
Considering the extremist attitude ruling Tahrir al-Sham and the fundamental ideological antagonism of Salafis with Shiites and the background of the confrontation of this movement as the official branch of al-Qaeda with Hezbollah during the Syrian civil war, the White House is eager to leave the policy of disarming the resistance to the terrorists of Tahrir al-Sham by integrating Lebanon into Syria.
According to American ideologues, the demographic superiority of Tahrir al-Sham supporters over the Shiites of South Lebanon and the strict policies of Tahrir al-Sham will inevitably lead the Shiite resistance streams to disarming.
In his recent statements, Tom Barak openly praised the policies of Sharia in curbing the resistance and claimed that Syria is removing ISIS and IRGC assets every day.
He bluntly described the importance of disarming Hezbollah as follows: “We are not arming the Lebanese army to fight Israel; We are arming it to fight its own people – Hezbollah. Iran and Hezbollah are our enemies; The snake’s head must be cut off.”
C- Setting the groundwork for the realization of the idea of federalism in Greater Syria
Although the majority of Syrian society is Sunni Arabs (65%), the presence of many ethnic groups and religions such as Maronites, Alevis, Druze, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians and Syriacs has created a diverse and colorful society in Syria.
Since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the Zionist regime, relying on its long-standing policy (division and integration), has been on the path of aligning itself with the Syrian minorities in order to weaken the central government of this country and ultimately set the stage for the disintegration of Syria. The result of one year of Ahmad al-Shara’s rule in Damascus shows that Netanyahu has taken steps towards realizing his hopes, such as the establishment of the Dawood Corridor, the creation of a weapon-free zone, and the annexation of parts of Syrian territory to the occupied territory, with the full support of the Druze and Kurdish militias.
The annexation of Lebanon to Syria will multiply the diverse and numerous texture of the newly established country and will actually destabilize the central government of Syria even more.
The macro policy of the United States in Syria is based on the creation of a system of federalism. The annexation of Lebanon to Syria can be the return of the map of Syria to the period of the country’s tutelage under French colonialism; A period in which the Syrian society, according to the existing minorities, had turned into semi-autonomous governments.
D- Controlling and suppressing the Palestinian forces
Since the occupation of Palestine in 1948, a large number of Palestinian displaced people have chosen Syria and Lebanon as their temporary residence. During many decades, South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley have become the place of military and educational movements of many Palestinian groups, Fatah, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine. This has led to numerous attacks by the Zionist army on Lebanon over the years.
According to the American and Zionist authorities, with the fall of the leftist and anti-Israeli government of Assad in Syria and the establishment of the Sharia regime, an opportunity has been created to contain the Palestinian jihadist groups in Syria and Lebanon. The integration of Lebanon in Syria at the current stage will practically pave the way for the isolation of the Palestinian militant groups by the Tahrir al-Sham government and in line with the interests and demands of the White House and the Zionist enemy.
Y- Ensuring the security of the Zionist regime and creating a buffer and weapon-free zone in the areas adjacent to the occupied territory
Most of the policies of the United States in the region have been aimed at securing the security of the Zionist regime. The annexation of Lebanon to Syria will undoubtedly increase the scope of sectarian and ethnic-religious tensions and will destabilize the central government of Damascus. The extremist attitude of Tahrir al-Sham at the current stage is also accompanied by the growing concern of the Syrian minorities, and with the annexation of Lebanon to this country, the scope of these concerns and tensions will be doubled.
The emergence of the crisis in Syria and the move towards federalism, while turning the Kurds, Druze and Christians into allies of Israel (in order to face the radical policies of Damascus), turned a large part of Syria into an area under the influence of the Zionist regime and fulfilled Netanyahu’s maximum demands for the creation of a buffer zone and a weapon-free zone. It will turn the Zionist into the gendarme of the region.
In such a context, the common and historical policy of the colonialist governments of providing partial support to shaky and autocratic governments with no social base has been repeated once again, and while turning most of Syria into the backyard of America and the Zionist regime, it has made the Sharia government in Damascus a function of American policies, and by strengthening the influence of Washington-Tel Aviv in the Shamat, it provides the context for the aforementioned regimes to be adjacent to Iraq and Turkey. This will provide Tel Aviv with the support card for the separatist groups in the mentioned countries as a pressure lever.
Source: Watan today
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منبع:تسنیم
