A lot has happened in just a year on both sides of the Lebanon-Syria border. A lightning offensive by Islamist insurgents in Syria toppled longtime autocrat Bashar Assad and brought a new government in place in Damascus.
In Lebanon, a bruising war with Israel dealt a serious blow to Hezbollah — the Iran-backed and Assad-allied Shiite Lebanese militant group that had until recently been a powerful force in the Middle East — and a U.S.-negotiated deal has brought a fragile ceasefire.
Still, even after the fall of the 54-year Assad family rule, relations between Beirut and Damascus remain tense — as they have been for decades past, with Syria long failing to treat its smaller neighbor as a sovereign nation.
Recent skirmishes along the border have killed and wounded several people, both fighters and civilians, including a four-year-old Lebanese girl. Beirut and Damascus have somewhat coordinated on border security, but attempts to reset political relations have been slow. Despite visits to Syria by two heads of Lebanon’s government, no Syrian official has visited Lebanon.
Here is what’s behind the complicated relations.
A coldness that goes way back
Many Syrians have resented Hezbollah for wading into Syria’s civil war in defense of Assad’s government. Assad’s fall sent them home, but many Lebanese now fear cross-border attacks by Syria’s Islamic militants.
There are new restrictions on Lebanese entering Syria, and Lebanon has maintained tough restrictions on Syrians entering Lebanon.
The Lebanese also fear that Damascus could try to bring Lebanon under a new Syrian tutelage.
Syrians have long seen Lebanon as a staging ground for anti-Syria activities, including hosting opposition figures before Hafez Assad — Bashar Assad’s father — ascended to power in a bloodless 1970 coup.
In 1976, Assad senior sent his troops to Lebanon, allegedly to bring peace as Lebanon was hurtling into a civil war that lasted until 1990. Once that ended, Syrian forces — much like a colonial power — remained in Lebanon for another 15 years.
A signature of the Assad family rule, Syria’s dreaded security agents disappeared and tortured dissidents to keep the country under their control. They did the same in Lebanon.
“Syrians feel that Lebanon is the main gateway for conspiracies against them,” says Lebanese political analyst Ali Hamadeh.
Turbulent times
