In Feb. 14 of this year, Lebanon turns the page to a decade of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination in 2005. A decade has passed and included many political changes in Lebanon, the region and the world.
So many events have passed in Lebanon and changed the political scene in the country, beginning from putting an end to the Syria tutelage over Lebanon, the July 2006 war, the new emerging Sunni-Shiite strife, new political alliances, the fall of Arab regimes, the evolving Arab revolution, the rise of radical groups, etc.
Lebanese Journalist and writer Saad Mehio, described the political change that occurred in Lebanon ever since Feb. 14, saying that “after Hariri’s death, Lebanon moved from Syrian custody to Iranian custody.”
“The Syrian power almost faded from Lebanon but instead came Iranian power, and Lebanon became more involved in the crises of the Middle East,” said Mehio.
According to Mehio, “during the Syrian era, the link between Lebanon and the regional crises existed but it was limited to the borders of the Golan Heights, which means that Syria had linked Lebanon’s stability to the solution of the Golan issue.”
“However, the borders on such link are expanding now in a wide axis that extends from Tehran to south Lebanon because Iran has put its weight in the attempt of building a new Middle East,” he said.
Lebanon has been greatly affected by the Syrian crisis ever since the military involvement of Hezbollah in fighting alongside the Assad regime troops under the alibi of confronting “Takfiris.”
Mehio indicated that the shift in Lebanon has both negative and positive outcomes. The negative aspect is the paralysis and the stalemate that hit the Lebanese state and its institutions, while the positive aspect is that the risk of a civil war in Lebanon again is ruled out since “Hezbollah’s interests at this phase are regional and do not have a Lebanese national dimension.”
“This might happen later,” Mehio then indicates.
As he summarizes the decade’s changes in turning Lebanon into a hostage to Iran, Mehio says that “had Hariri not been assassinated, we would still have these changes.”
