A man holding a flag of the Syrian revolution in front of the Masnaa border crossing, between Lebanon and Syria, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Credit: Matthieu Karam/L'Orient-Le Jour)
Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Nagib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib announced Sunday, in a joint statement issued after a meeting, that they were "following with interest the current developments in Syria," stressing the need to "preserve the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria, as well as non-interference in its internal affairs."
Several officials and parties of the Lebanese opposition to Assad, the Iranian axis and Hezbollah have welcomed the fall of the Syrian government, while no reaction has yet been heard from its allies.
Syrian rebels, led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), announced at dawn the fall of the government of Bashar al-Assad, after the capture of Damascus and other strategic cities in Syria at the end of a lightning offensive lasting twelve days.
In their statement, Mikati and Bou Habib emphasized "Lebanon's desire to establish the best relations with the Syrian state and its representatives, to preserve the common interests of the two countries."
"Lebanon also respects the will of the Syrian people, because it is up to them alone to choose their representatives, their political system and the future of their country, for the good of Syria, while affirming the importance of good neighborly relations between Lebanon and Syria," the statement added.
Tribute to Rafic Hariri, Bashir and Pierre Gemayel
The Future Movement, led by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who retired from politics nearly three years ago, congratulated "the Syrian people for the triumph of truth over lies" and for "the fall of the tyrannical regime, which weighed on the chests of the Syrians and the Lebanese for many years."
"No matter what injustices we have suffered at the hands of the regime, they are nothing compared to what the Syrian people endured on their path to liberation from a dark past, under a monstrous regime that intensified torture, assassinations, and against us as well. History bears witness to this," he added, in a clear allusion to the assassination of Prime Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005 in Beirut. The Future Movement also called on the Lebanese to "national unity."
The leader of the Kataeb party, Samy Gemayel, published on X a photo of his brother Pierre, assassinated in November 2006, and his uncle, President Bashir Gemayel, killed in an attack in September 1982. "My companion, the martyr president, my beloved and martyred brother, My comrades in resistance, martyrs and living: The criminal tyrant has fallen ... and Lebanon and the Kataeb are still there," he wrote.
For the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP), MP Wael Bou Faour wrote on X that “the people remain and tyrants have a short life,” with photos of the car in which Kamal Joumblatt, former leader of the party, was assassinated in 1977 and of the 2005 attack that killed Rafic Hariri.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), a crowd gathered around the mausoleum dedicated to Kamal Joumblatt in Moukhtara, in the presence of his granddaughter, Dalia Joumblatt, daughter of former PSP leader MP Walid, and celebrated the fall of the Assad regime.
Bahaa Hariri, Rafic Hariri's eldest son, praised the Syrians who "gave Syria the freedom it deserves. How beautiful Damascus is without the terrorist regime." In another message on X, accompanied by a photo of his father, the businessman said, "Today, the Syrian revolutionaries avenged your murderer and his allies. I now owe a great debt to this wonderful people who overthrew the criminal Assad regime."
The Syrian government is accused of the assassination or attempted assassination of many Lebanese personalities and officials who opposed it, since the end of the civil war in Lebanon (1975-1990) and particularly during the Syrian occupation of the country. On social networks, many photos paying tribute to these assassinated personalities have circulated in recent hours, including a portrait of the journalist and writer Samir Kassir, killed in an attack on June 2, 2005.
Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese party close to the Muslim Brotherhood, spoke of a "key revolutionary milestone after thirteen years of struggle."
"This achievement inspires hope for oppressed nations to rise up against tyranny and strengthens support for the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Zionist occupation," the party added.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
