Elise Knutsen
Rafik Hariri’s relations with Syrian authorities soured after President Bashar Assad assumed the presidency, a childhood friend and confidant of the former Prime Minister told the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Tuesday.
Ghaleb al-Shamaa, one of Hariri’s oldest friends and close advisers, told the court that Hariri had maintained a civil if imperfect relationship with Syrian authorities under President Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971-2000.
“The relationship between the Prime Minister and Hafez al-Assad was an acceptable one. I mean by that there was some kind of understanding on some of the main issues. ... However, the situation changed with the death of Hafez al-Assad,” Shamaa told the U.N.-backed court charged with investigating Hariri’s assassination. After the younger Assad took power, “we saw then a relationship that was more aggressive, more dominant and of greater provocation,” Shamaa explained.
Bashar Assad removed the Syrian officials who had previously liased between Damascus and Hariri, and appointed Rustom Ghazaleh in their stead, according to Shamaa.
“Rustom Ghazaleh was given a free hand and total support by President Bashar Assad,” Shamaa said.
Shamaa testified that he would often accompany Hariri to Damascus when he had meetings with the Syrian President. Hariri hoped to persuade the Syrians to allow Lebanon more political self-determination.
“He was trying to reach an understanding with them gradually, an understanding by which the Syrians would interfere less in Lebanese affairs,” Shamaa told the court.
But after a stormy meeting in August 2004 when President Bashar Assad told Hariri to endorse Lebanon’s Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud for a second term, Hariri appeared out of sorts.
“He looked angry, and distressed,” Shamaa said. When Hariri revealed that Bashar had used a threatening tone, Shamaa suggested he leave Lebanon for his own safety.
“He said he could not leave ... that he preferred to stay in Lebanon” even though he had essentially lost hope that he could sway Syrian policy toward Lebanon.
While Shamaa was not present at Hariri’s meetings with Assad, he said that the former prime minister did not discuss the issue of Hezbollah’s arms with his Syrian colleagues.
“He wanted the Syrians to leave the Lebanese and let them decide and manage their own internal affairs,” Shamaa said.
Shamaa said that Hariri held Hezbollah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, in high esteem. “Nasrallah had lost one of his sons who was defending Lebanon and confronting the Israeli enemy. Mr. Hariri considered that Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is someone who had sacrificed his son for the sake of Lebanon’s independence,” he told the court.
Five Hezbollah members stand accused of plotting the massive explosion which killed Hariri and 21 others on Feb. 14, 2005.
In the months before his assassination, Hariri met with Nasrallah several times. Hariri “wanted to engage in a dialogue and reach an agreement with him that would enable them to take Lebanon out of this kind of deadlock,” Shamaa said.
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