By :  Hendrajit*

Understanding the United States (US) role in Lebanon, first of all we should trace back the US strategy in handling its foreign policy direction in Middle East in general. For American policy makers the Middle East has often been a headache, sometimes a nightmare. It is the presence of the Jewish of state of Israel on Middle East Territory that was once Palestine that causes the Middle Eastern problem, whose magnitude cannot be exaggerated.

Israelis and Arabs alike believe that the Middle East sets true believer against true believer with survival as the Issue. No wonder, then, that solutions are hard to find, or much worst, the warfare has been so bloody and costly. Thus, hatreds run so deep.

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Among the current events as a case in point, the Israeli military invasion to the Southern Lebanon, in one way or another, has clearly showed the double standard and political ambivalence played by the US in dealing with the warring factions in Lebanon such as the Muslim Shias-based Hezbollah, Muslim Sunnis and Christian.

And more tragically, US in Lebanon basically had no economic interest of any consequence, but nevertheless it became deeply involved. The reason is quite simple. the during the Cold War era in the period of 1960s up to 1980s, the US agenda was to contain its principle rival The Soviet Union. Under such circumstances, US gave the unconditional support to the potential Cold War ally in the Middle East.

Since the very beginning of the Cold War era, American foreign policy makers saw Israel as its reliable ally and perceived the Syria as the client state of Russians. Realizing the reliability of Israeli power in the region, US wanted close ties with Israel in dealing with the growing influence of Soviet Union in the Middle East, including Lebanon.

The problem came when the Israeli authorities viewed the Arab Nationalism and the Palestine Liberation Organization(PLO) rather than Soviet Union, as the Chief Threat.  As far as Lebanon is concerned, Israel and Syria since its inception get involved in the civil war. Since the Civil war broke out in Lebanon, especially during the 1975 civil war, it pitted Lebanese Muslims against Lebanese Christians, Syria against  Lebanon, the PLO against everyone, and the Jews against the Arab. 

The Syrian troops are the guests of the Lebanese government which invited them during the civil war in 1975 to restore peace and tranquillity in that embattled country and their further stay and redeployment in their present location was brought about in strict compliance with the Taif accord, the handiwork of the Arab League, as endorsed by the Lebanese National Assembly on October 22, 1989.

According to this accord, the Syrian troops were to assist the national government in imposing its security plan for two years and thereafter they were to move out of Beirut into the Bekka region - which the Syrian government has indicated its troops will do - and positions along the Beirut-Damascus highway.

It was because of the moderating influence of the Syrian forces that the Muslims - Sunnis and Shias - dropped their insistence on representation in the national assembly according to their numerical strength and accepted parity with the Christians who had now become a minority.

Unfortunately, it proved unable to create an atmosphere of peace. For over a decade and a half, Christians and Muslims had been killing one another, the targeted killings of important leaders such as the Progressive Socialist Party leader, Kamal Jumblatt, the former prime minister, Rashid Karame, and the Phalange leader and the Lebanese president, Bashir Gemayal, had destabilized the country and ruined the economy.

It was the entering point for Israel to interfere in the domestic political affairs of Lebanon. The Israelis, taking advantage of the civil war, invaded Lebanon and occupied the ten-by-six square mile swathe of South Lebanese territory where it set up a puppet Christian Maronite army man, Major Haddad, as ruler under its tutelage. To bolster the local army man-type regime, Israel raised a 2,500-strong mercenary force as the auxiliary of its approximately 900 troops.

Thus, the history of Israeli military invasion was laid down, and it worsened the situation. The Israeli occupation of South Lebanon triggered a resistance movement spearheaded by the Syrian-supported Hezbollah. The Palestinians also occasionally made forays into northern Israeli territory, thereby giving Tel Aviv a pretext to launch a full-scale invasion in 1978 to expel PLO from Lebanon.

Israel laid siege of Beirut, cutting off power and water supply to the residents. In the ensuing 11-week Israeli-PLO war, the longest in the history of the Arab