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Boueiz: Rift with Gaddafi, Saddam due to Provocative Message, Assassination Plot

Colonel Gaddafi alongside Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak, President Chadli Bendjedid and King Hassan II, during the inauguration of a reservoir for the waters of the Great Man-made River in Suluq, south of Benghazi in 1991. (Getty Images)
Colonel Gaddafi alongside Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak, President Chadli Bendjedid and King Hassan II, during the inauguration of a reservoir for the waters of the Great Man-made River in Suluq, south of Benghazi in 1991. (Getty Images)
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Boueiz: Rift with Gaddafi, Saddam due to Provocative Message, Assassination Plot

Colonel Gaddafi alongside Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak, President Chadli Bendjedid and King Hassan II, during the inauguration of a reservoir for the waters of the Great Man-made River in Suluq, south of Benghazi in 1991. (Getty Images)
Colonel Gaddafi alongside Arab leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak, President Chadli Bendjedid and King Hassan II, during the inauguration of a reservoir for the waters of the Great Man-made River in Suluq, south of Benghazi in 1991. (Getty Images)

When President Elias Hrawi assumed office, Lebanon was facing severe challenges, with a fragmented state and crumbling institutions. Despite the circumstances, then Foreign Minister Fares Boueiz rejected the approach to deal with Lebanon as a weak country and a quasi-state.

He restored the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the glow it had when it was in the custody of a brilliant minister, Fouad Boutros, who is highly admired by Boueiz.

The minister rejected the language of dictations imposed Lebanon, and refused to devote the country as an arena for settling scores. What further strengthened his role was his direct relationship with President Hafez al-Assad.

I asked Boueiz about the diplomatic incident that led to the severing of relations with Libya.

He said: “One day, the Libyan ambassador comes to me to convey a message from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The letter was a green cardboard book inlaid with gold or gold ink and weighed about 10 or even 12 kilograms. He gave me the book as if it were a fateful international treaty, so I opened it and read a line that talks about “the conspiracy of the Jews and Christians against the Arab nation...” I read these words, closed the book and threw it into the arms of the ambassador, saying: Tell Colonel Gaddafi that this book is totally unacceptable. Tell him: We are the real Arabs. The Christians of Lebanon restored the Arab renaissance after 450 years of Turkification and the disappearance of this language. They preserved the Arabic language in their monasteries and through its printing presses and monks. Tell Colonel Gaddafi: These are the ones who created the Arab political thought...”

Boueiz added that he asked the ambassador for an immediate letter of apology, or consider himself “persona non grata”. He gave him and the Libyan embassy staff 48 hours to leave the country.

“Indeed, the delegation left Lebanon and I went to the Council of Ministers. The authority to expel an ambassador falls within the powers of the foreign minister; but the power to sever relations requires a cabinet decision. So I asked the Council of Ministers to cut the relations, and this is what happened,” the former minister recounted.

- Rules and principles

Boueiz said that his decision was not based on a sectarian stance, but rather an attempt to recall the rules and principles.

“Days passed, and whenever I would go to a conference abroad, the Lebanese ambassador would come to me to tell me that the Libyan ambassador had called him and that the Libyan foreign minister wanted to meet with me. My answer was always the same: I will not meet him unless he is provided with a letter of apology.”

The minister told Asharq Al-Awsat that he faced pressure in Lebanon over this issue.

“It’s the Lebanese commercial mind. Lebanon exports apples to Libya. I am from an area where apples are grown. But I used to answer that our national dignity is more important than apples...”

The rift lasted for at least two years, Boueiz said, until the Lebanese ambassador to Cairo told him that the Libyan foreign minister wanted to meet him and convey a letter of apology.

The ambassador informed Boueiz of the content of the letter, which he described as “acceptable”. Relations with Libya were consequently restored.

_ Al-Sadr Case

Boueiz said that during his tenure at the Lebanese Foreign Ministry, he did not receive any information on the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, except for undocumented and unconfirmed reports.

He recounted: “The story that we have received, which is not confirmed, states that during the war, Colonel Gaddafi had asked Imam Musa al-Sadr that the Shiites in Lebanon engage in a war against the Christians... But Imam Musa al-Sadr used the money (which Libya provided for this purpose) for social and charitable reasons. He built schools and hospitals there... It seems that Palestinian and Lebanese parties complained to Gaddafi when he asked them: How did you not win over these Christians? Gaddafi summoned Imam al-Sadr and told him: What did you do with all this aid... Al-Sadr gave him a list of social and other institutions...Then, Abdullah Al-Senussi, the intelligence chief, entered and kidnapped Imam Al-Sadr, and it is said that they hid him somewhere in the desert. Later, they sent a delegation to Rome with a sheikh wearing a turban to prove that Sadr went to Italy after Libya.”

-Saddam Hussein and the assassination of Taleb al-Suhail

There is an expressive story that happened with Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Boueiz said: “There was a senior Iraqi tribal leader in Lebanon named Taleb Al-Suhail, who was an opponent of Saddam’s regime and resided in the Raouche area of Beirut. Three people came to his house... shot and killed him and then fled. The police chased them until they reached the Iraqi embassy, where they sought refuge, and the police could not enter it due to diplomatic immunity.”

The former minister told Asharq Al-Awsat that he immediately summoned the Iraqi ambassador, asking him to hand over the culprits, otherwise he would consider him “persona non grata”.

He said he was sure that the Iraqi diplomat would not hand them over, and that they were intelligence men coming from Baghdad.

“The next day, I received a call from Beirut Airport at eight in the morning. It was the Public Prosecutor of the Cassation Court, Judge Mounif Oweidat. He told me: Your Excellency, the entire staff of the Iraqi embassy has been arrested while trying to flee.”

Boueiz asked for the names of the arrested people to find out that three of them were not diplomats. He then requested the immediate release of the ambassador and all the diplomats, while the wanted persons were referred to the judiciary and sentenced with imprisonment. One of them died in jail from cancer, he noted.

- A letter of apology

Similar to what happened with Libya, at every conference Boueiz went to, he would be approached by his Iraqi counterpart, who would ask him for a meeting.

“I can only accept a letter of apology,” the Lebanese minister used to reply.

“I knew that Saddam would not apologize for the matter (the assassination of Al-Suhail). One day, our ambassador in Jordan called me to tell me that the Iraqi ambassador conveyed a letter from Saddam Hussein... Indeed, I found the content of the letter acceptable.”

Boueiz noted that Hussein did not use the apology word, but described what happened as a mistake and whoever did it “will bear responsibility.” He also denied any role for the Iraqi state in the crime. The bilateral relations were then mended.

-Yasser Arafat and the complex relationship with Hafez al-Assad

According to Boueiz, Arafat’s relationship with Syria was complicated. There was a kind of hatred towards the Palestinian leader.

“In Syria, if President Hafez al-Assad hates a person, it means that the entire regime hates him. They had some kind of picture of Arafat. They accuse him of being dishonest, and that he will not spare any opportunity for... an unacceptable political settlement.”

- Ding Xiaoping

I asked Minister Boueiz about his meeting with Deng Xiaoping, who laid the foundation for the Chinese renaissance.

He replied: “I was greatly touched by what he said to me during one of my visits to China in the early nineties. I was amazed at the way China emerged from Marxism-Leninism-Stalinism, and the growth of the Chinese economy.”

The former foreign minister quoted the Chinese leader as saying: “We realized that Marxism is an economic doctrine that is no longer viable, and that it has fallen. We saw that Leninism is a dictatorial political doctrine that has outlived its time. We also realized that Stalinism is a police security doctrine that is also outdated. But we cannot get out of the three doctrines without the country collapsing into chaos. We have seen before us the example of Russia; when Gorbachev abolished these three beliefs together, and Russia collapsed as a whole. So, we decided to gradually eradicate these beliefs, starting with Marxism, to make way for economic renaissance and people’s development, and the trend towards more freedoms and democracy will gradually follow.”

Boueiz said that he conveyed this opinion to Hafez al-Assad during one of the meetings, saying that Syria, too, may be in a situation similar to China, which means that if it begins with economic renaissance and freedom, it will gradually get out of these situations.

“I think that this matter greatly touched President Assad, although he was very far from giving priority to the economic issue, but it impacted him as an idea. This prompted him request my help for Syria to join the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Agreement, on the grounds that this partnership would open the door to economic development and help Syria grow and develop, and preventing it from descending into chaos,” the former Lebanese minister stated.

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Assad in Syria and Lebanon: Quarter of a Century of Dictatorship and Destruction

People attend a rally to "thank Syria" for its role in Lebanon on March 8, 2005. (Getty Images)
People attend a rally to "thank Syria" for its role in Lebanon on March 8, 2005. (Getty Images)
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Assad in Syria and Lebanon: Quarter of a Century of Dictatorship and Destruction

People attend a rally to "thank Syria" for its role in Lebanon on March 8, 2005. (Getty Images)
People attend a rally to "thank Syria" for its role in Lebanon on March 8, 2005. (Getty Images)

Hazem Saghieh

The advent of the 21st Century brought with it historic developments. The most significant for Syria and Lebanon took place on June 10, 2000 with the death of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Many openly mourned his passing. Many having experienced firsthand the cruelty of the ruler. In secret however, they said: “This is the first time Assad does something useful.”

Hafez was in effect the president of two countries. Weeks before his death, he met with US President Bill Clinton in Geneva to discuss resuming negotiations between Syria and Israel. On May 25, 2000, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in line with an electoral pledge made by Ehud Barak.

The day was a calamity to Assad’s Lebanese and Syrian supporters, who saw in the withdrawal the end of their excuses to carry arms outside state control. So, they described the move as a “conspiracy” and suddenly, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, they cited Israel’s continued occupation of the long-forgotten Shebaa Farms. Israel had occupied the area from Syria in 1967. Calls for war mounted, demanding that Israel withdraw or suffer the consequences. Soon after, however, tensions eased, and Hezbollah declared the withdrawal a “liberation” achieved with the support of “Syria’s Assad”.

Training Bashar and Lebanese politicians

Syrians recalled the story of a peasant from Daraa who headed to Damascus to attend Hafez’s funeral. On his way, he saw a billboard that read: “The Assad (Arabic for lion) is immortal and does not die.” So the peasant turned back and returned home believing that the news of Hafez’s death were rumors spread by enemies.

The peasant wasn’t completely wrong or so it would seem when Hafez’s son, Bashar, came to power to follow in his father’s footsteps. Despite the changes the new young ruler introduced to the country and his marriage to a “modern” British-born woman, the apple did not fall far from the tree, and he maintained his father’s iron-fisted grip on power.

Bashar forged ahead along his father’s destructive path and where better to gain experience than in Syria’s favorite training ground: Lebanon.

Late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and US President Bill Clinton meet in Geneva in 2000. (Getty Images)

In 1998, two years before he came to power and four years after his older brother Bassel’s death, Bashar was put in charge of the Syrian military presence in “brotherly” Lebanon, where 40,000 Syrian soldiers were deployed. As part of Bashar’s training, he documented his relations with Lebanese politicians, the majority of whom bowed their heads to the lowliest of Syrian officers.

Three Lebanese figures stood out for Bashar. Two had his unabashed admiration and one was an abhorred thorn in his side:

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah was the leader of the resistance party and enjoyed Bashar’s full support. He was viewed as the man of the 2000 liberation. He represented to Bashar everything that he could not achieve because he inherited power, while Nasrallah earned his way to the top. However, Hafez had the upper hand over Nasrallah when negotiating with Iran; the young inexperienced Bashar did not.

Bashar’s admiration of Nasrallah stemmed from what he could never achieve, while his admiration for Emile Lahoud stemmed from what was possible. The Lebanese army and naval commander was chosen by Damascus to be president in 1998. Lahoud, the commander of the very modest Lebanese navy, was as much a military man as Bashar, the ophthalmologist, was a doctor.

With the very little time needed to run the navy, Lahoud spent his leisure hours oiling himself up to tan under the sun at the Bain Militaire resort in Beirut. In all likelihood, Bashar was drawn to Lahoud because of their shared weakness in articulating words and putting sentences together, following that up with weak laughter, leaving their statements utterly meaningless.

The thorn in Bashar’s side was wealthy businessman and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who lavished gifts on Syrian officers hoping for political leniency in return. This was not the type of wealthy man who Bashar was drawn to. Bashar looked up to the wealthy man whose sole ambition was to keep his riches from being seized.

Articles spoke about how Hariri was the one who was building Syria’s relations with the world, and he was the one who proposed to Damascus that it follow the “Chinese model” whereby power remains in the hands of the rulers, while freedom is introduced to the markets. Bashar resented Hariri for this and his sentiment deepened because Hariri was a Sunni leader and Bashar was Alawite. The Sunnis make up the majority in Lebanon and Syria where Alawites are a minority.

Rumors abounded that Hariri not only wanted to be the leader of the Sunnis in Lebanon, but in Syria as well. No wonder Bashar was suspicious. Rumors also spread that Hariri sought regional peace whereby the Palestinians and Israeli would continue where they left off in Oslo in 1993. Perhaps what irked Bashar the most about Hariri was that he was a self-made man.

From left to right: Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, slain former PM Rafik al-Hariri and slain Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (AFP file)

Regional tumult and crimes in Lebanon

The Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon removed the Syrian regime’s excuse for keeping its forces deployed in Lebanon. Hafez’s death encouraged people to speak out. The man of the moment was late Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, who in September 2000 sponsored a Maronite call on Syria to pull out its troops. Sfeir forged ahead. In April 2001, he blessed the establishment of the Qornet Shewan gathering that marked the beginning of the emergence of an anti-Syria opposition.

The gathering brought together Christian politicians and helped extend bridges to Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, both of whom were upset with Bashar and his employee in Lebanon, Lahoud. In the summer of 2001, Sfeir sponsored a major reconciliation between the Christians and the Druze. Both sects were seen as the backbone of Lebanon’s national identity.

On August 7, Christian society was rattled by student protests held by supporters of the Lebanese Forces and former army commander Michel Aoun, who was in exile at the time. The protesters were summarily rounded up and imprisoned in shocking scenes. Hundreds were detained without any legal justification and for simply demanding freedom and the withdrawal of Syrian troops.

The region was in store for more tumult. In 2003, the US invaded Iraq and a year later Syria’s Kurds in Qamishli were encouraged to revolt against the regime. Bashar responded to the unrest by shipping terrorists to Iraq where they caused so much death and destruction. Washington soon began to mount its pressure on Bashar to ease meddling in Lebanon.

Bashar responded with a bombshell in Beirut. He remained steadfast in extending Lahoud’s term in office in 2004 despite deep opposition in Lebanon. In September later that year, the UN Security Council issued resolution 1559 that calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and the dismantling of all militias. It was as clear as day that Bashar and Hezbollah were the main targets of the resolution.

Bashar and Nasrallah were determined to retaliate against the resolution and Jumblatt and Hariri were seen as the main targets. Jumblatt had joined the opposition, while Hariri, who openly opposed the extension of Lahoud’s term – in what was seen as a direct insult to Bashar – was suspected of having played a major role in the issuance of resolution 1559.

And so, Beirut would be struck with disaster on February 14, 2005. Hariri was assassinated in major car bombing that would also claim the life of minister Bassil Fleihan and 21 people. A slew of crimes and assassinations would ensue against politicians and journalists who were vocal in their opposition to Bashar and Nasrallah.

Lebanon would soon become divided into two camps: one known as “March 8”, named so after holding a large rally on that day in 2005 to “thank Syria’s Assad” for its role in Lebanon, and “March 14”, also named so after a rally on that day that dwarfed the first and that protested against Hariri’s killing and demanded the withdrawal of the Syrian forces.

The forces would eventually withdraw from Lebanon on April 30, 2005. Nasrallah eagerly gifted the head of the Syrian security apparatus in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh, the “rifle of resistance” because he wanted the Syrian troops to quit Lebanon with their heads held high, not weak and humiliated. Hariri’s “curse” would haunt Ghazaleh and his predecessor Ghazi Kanaan. Their mysterious fate would be added to countless others who died under the Assad rule.

Syrian forces deployed in Lebanon. (AFP file)

Ghazaleh was named to his post in Lebanon in 2002. He followed in Kanaan’s bloody footsteps of killing and torture. They had set up base in the town of Anjar in the Bekaa and the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut, both of which became synonymous with the Syrian regime’s oppression. They also sponsored drug and weapons smuggling networks whose revenues they reaped, along with the regime and their allies in the “Axis of Resistance”.

Ghazaleh was known for his utmost loyalty to the regime. Perhaps it was because he was a Sunni and needed to prove himself to his Alawite masters. Kanaan, a Alawite, didn’t need to go that far and years later would go on record and speak proudly of his friendship with Hariri.

At any rate, with Syrian troops out of Lebanon, the regime feared that all of its plotting to kill Hariri would be revealed. So, Ghazaleh, the regime’s secret keeper and owner of the “rifle of the resistance” was killed in 2015. Kanaan was shot and killed in his office in 2005. He was shot with two or three bullets, but the regime famously preferred to call his death a suicide. A few years later, two of his brothers also committed “suicide” - also using two or three bullets.

Tying the brother to the sister

Throughout the hegemony of “sister” Syria over “brother” Lebanon, the latter was under the Baathist theory of “Lebanon’s Arabism”. Describing what the regime did to Arabism is an insult to the word. In reality, it required that Lebanon stand by Syria and non-Arab Iran, through thick and thin, against Egypt, Iraq and Arab Gulf and Maghreb. For the first time in Lebanon’s modern history, it had an official ideology that identified “friend” and “foe”, replacing freedom of expression that was a hallmark of Lebanon’s official stances.

Hafez had also tightened the bond between Damascus and Beirut with the 1991 treaty of “Brotherhood, Cooperation, and Coordination” that tied Lebanon’s foreign policy to Syria’s. Damascus was also granted the final say in administrative and public appointments, especially security and military ones. It was allowed to name judges and ministers and outline media policies of various outlets.

This form of “Arabism” continued under Bashar, who at first attempted to display some openness towards Syria and Lebanon. He gave some breathing room for civil society activists in Syria and Lebanese banks opened branches in Syria. Bashar also approached Christian Lebanese parties that are traditionally opposed to the Assads.

War with Israel

Bashar’s relative “openness” led to the establishment of the “Beirut-Damascus Declaration” in May 2006. It was signed by hundreds of Syrian and Lebanon intellectuals and activists and called on the Syrian government to “correct” relations with Lebanon and respect its sovereignty and independence and end its series of political assassinations. The declaration marked the end of the openness. The Syrian signatories soon found themselves in jail or fired from their jobs.

Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon left Hezbollah and its allies isolated. They were also confronted with a national agenda championed by the March 14 movement. Syrian voices chimed in solidarity with the Lebanese people. Hezbollah and its allies therefore sensed the need to shift attention elsewhere. And as usual, what best way to do that than sparking a war with Israel? Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers in July 2006, leading Israel to declare war on the party.

Hezbollah would declare “divine victory” some 33 days later. Soon after, Iran-backed Hezbollah would assume in Lebanon the role once played by Ghazaleh. Iran’s role in Lebanon would become more pronounced, while Syria still held sway, albeit in back alleys, instead of the rooftops.

Lebanese mourners hold up a sign during the funeral of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, February 16, 2005 (Reuters)

A deadly duality emerged: a popular and parliamentary majority represented by Fuad Siniora’s government on the one hand, and the “divine victory” camp whose weapons and alliances would prevent the establishment of any stable form of rule on the other. The camp obstructed the government functioning and crippled the entire capital with a sit-in in Downtown Beirut that extended for over a year.

In May 2007, members of the so-called Fatah al-Islam group killed 27 Lebanese soldiers in their sleep. Clashes soon ensued in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp between the group and the army. Later, it would be revealed that the leader of the group, Shaker al-Absi, was working for Syrian intelligence. He had been imprisoned in Damascus and later released. He was tasked with sending terrorists to Iraq. After the Nahr al-Bared battle, he fled to Damascus and was later unsurprisingly killed in mysterious circumstances.

With Hezbollah and its allies holding sway in Lebanon, meeting constitutional deadlines became impossible. It took six months to elect Michel Suleiman president and that was only after Hezbollah and its allies turned their weapons against the Lebanese people in May 2008. The Doha conference was held to restore calm and end the political impasse and Suleiman was elected president.

Even after the crisis was resolved, Hezbollah continued to obstruct political life when things did not go in its favor even though the 2009 parliamentary elections, just like the 2005 polls, handed the March 14 camp a majority.

Syrian revolution and Assad’s downfall

The Syrian revolution erupted in 2011 and people in Lebanon hoped that it would positively impact their country and sweep away the rot and corruption that had been eating away at it. Voices of solidarity rose with the Syrian people, this time calling for freedom and dignity, not Arabism and resistance. Thugs affiliated with Damascus loyalists and Hezbollah soon cracked down on people expressing solidarity.

The northern city of Tripoli suffered the brunt of the crackdown. Its close proximity to Syria had always made it a prime target for the regime’s oppressive practices. In 2013, two mosques in the city were bombed, leaving 49 people dead and over 800 wounded. Unsurprisingly, the terrorist group that had claimed responsibility for the attack was actually affiliated with Damascus.

In 2012, scandal shook Lebanon when former minister Michel Samaha was busted for smuggling explosives from Syria to Lebanon where he planned on carrying out bombings. Ali al-Mamlouk, Bashar’s security advisor, was the mastermind behind the plot.

Ousted Syrian President Bashar all-Assad. (SANA file)

In 2019, as the sanctions tightened around the regime, it turned to Lebanon to ease the strain. The regime’s financial ties to Hezbollah were deepened during that phase, especially when it came to smuggling captagon.

While Syria kept a low profile in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s role in Syria grew more prominent. It reached a glaring peak in 2013 when it intervened militarily in Syria to help the regime fight the opposition seeking its ouster.

On the official level, Lebanon had sought to distance itself from the conflict in Syria. The Baabda Declaration was issued in 2012, stressing that Lebanon would keep a distance from the unrest. All parties, including Hezbollah, had agreed to it. Iran, Hezbollah’s backer, had other plans and soon the party scrambled to the aid of its ally, sowing death and destruction in Syria.

On August 4, 2020, Beirut was in store for yet another tragedy. Ammonium nitrate unsafely stored at the Beirut port mysteriously detonated, destroying swathes of the capital and killing over 200 people. The explosion was the third largest non-nuclear explosion in history. A lot was written about how associates of the Assad regime, who were complicit in shady deals and smuggling operations, had been storing the nitrate at the port.

The claims gained ground when Hezbollah thwarted investigations into the explosion. The party had no problem dispatching its enforcer and security official Wafik Safa to threaten the judge in charge of the probe to shut it down. And so it was, and the investigations have been stalled for years.

Much can be said about the Syrian refugees who fled to Lebanon during their country’s conflict. Strong bonds were forged between them and the locals, but they also strained Lebanon’s already fragile economy, fueling resentment and racism against them.

The Syrian regime collapsed on December 8 and Bashar fled to Moscow. The Lebanese people shared the Syrian people’s delirium in seeing the downfall of their oppressor.

However, Lebanon is not out of the woods yet. Members of the regime fled Syria to Lebanon and local authorities are demanded to arrest them, otherwise risk jeopardizing relations with the new rulers in Damascus. But everyone can safely say, that at the moment, the past 25 years of oppression, death and ruin at the hands of the regime are truly over.