Cedar Revolution
The Cedar Revolution (Arabic: ثورة الأرز, romanized: thawrat al-arz) or the Independence Intifada (Arabic: انتفاضة الاستقلال, romanized: intifadat al-istiqlal) was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon (especially in the capital Beirut) triggered by the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. The popular movement was remarkable for its avoidance of violence, peaceful approach, and its total reliance on methods of civil resistance.[2]
The primary goals of the activists were the withdrawal of the Syrian troops which had occupied Lebanon since 1976, the replacement of a government heavily influenced by Syrian interests by more independent leadership, the establishment of an international commission to investigate the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, the resignation of security officials to ensure the success of the plan, and the organization of free parliamentary elections. More generally, the demonstrators demanded the end of the Syrian influence in Lebanese politics.
At the start of the demonstrations, Syria had a force of roughly 14,000 soldiers and intelligence agents in Lebanon.[3] Following the demonstrations, the Syrian troops completely withdrew from Lebanon on 27 April 2005. With the resignation of the pro-Syrian Karami government on 19 April, the 2005 general election, and the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the main goals of the revolution were achieved.
The opposition used the white-and-red scarf and the blue ribbon as its symbols. The most popular motto of the movement was Hurriyyeh, Siyedeh, Istiqlel (Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence).
The main goal of the Cedar Revolution was the ending of the Syrian military occupation of Lebanon, which had lasted about 30 years (since 1976). In addition, many Lebanese called for the return of former president Michel Aoun, in exile since 1991, and the release of the imprisoned Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.
Additional goals of the revolution are:
Origins of the name[edit]
The name "Cedar Revolution" is a term that was coined by the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs Paula J. Dobriansky in a news conference,[4][5] and used to draw a comparison with the Rose Revolution of Georgia, the Orange Revolution of Ukraine, and the Purple Revolution of Iraq. Other names include the Cedar Spring (Arabic: ربيع الأرز – Rabi' el Arz),[6] referring to the season when protests first broke out, and also as an allusion to famous freedom and independence movements such as the Prague Spring and Damascus Spring.[7] The names used by the local media, like the LBC and Future TV, to describe this event include Lebanon Independence (Istiqlal Lubnan), Lebanon Spring (Rabi' Lubnan), or Independence 05. It was also known as Independence Uprising (Arabic: انتفاضة الاستقلال, romanized: intifāḍat al-istiqlāl).[8]
The word Cedar refers to a national emblem, the Cedar of Lebanon, a tree featured on the flag of Lebanon.
Background[edit]
2001 Lebanon Protest[edit]
An Anti-Syrian occupation demonstration[9] took place in Lebanon on 7 August 2001, which turned violent when the joint Lebanese-Syrian security System tried to repress the revolt, and resulted in the arrest of hundreds without legal justification,[10] during the tenure of the pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud.[11] On that day, the security forces attacked hundreds of young activists, mainly from the Christian[12] parties, including the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces,[12] the National Liberal Party and other non-partisan neutral activists[13] in front of the Justice Palace in Beirut[12] and engaged in a campaign of beatings[12] and arrests that was characterized by extreme ferocity.[13]
International reaction[edit]
Hariri's murder triggered increased international pressure on Syria. In a joint statement, U.S. President George W. Bush and French president Jacques Chirac condemned the killing and called for full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which requires the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the disarming of Hezbollah thriving in Southern Lebanon.
At one point there seemed to be confusion about the extent to which Syria was willing to withdraw from Lebanon. Arab League head Amr Moussa declared that Syrian president Assad promised him a phased withdrawal over a two-year period, but the Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah said that Moussa had misunderstood the Syrian leader. Dakhlallah said that Syria will merely move its troops to eastern Lebanon. Since then, Syria has declared that Resolution 1559 will be fully complied with, and in a matter of months rather than years.
On 15 March, upon hearing purportedly leaked information that the United Nations' special investigation may have found that the Lebanese authorities covered up evidence of the murder, columnist Robert Fisk alleges that Hariri's two sons fled Lebanon, reportedly after being warned that they too were in danger of assassination.[24]
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in response to a request by the Security Council, sent a team of Irish, Egyptian and Moroccan specialists, led by Ireland's deputy police commissioner, Peter FitzGerald, to investigate the assassination. Even before the FitzGerald Report was published, Annan has said a further, more comprehensive investigation may be necessary. FitzGerald thanked the Lebanese government for its cooperation before departing.[25] The report cites the Syrian presence in Lebanon as a factor contributing to the instability and polarization that preceded the assassination. The report also criticizes the Lebanese government and intelligence agencies for the handling of their own investigation into the affair, calling it flawed and inconclusive. The Lebanese government in turn has described the report as "alien to reality" and criticized the UN team for not seeking broader government participation in the investigation. The government has agreed to a further, more comprehensive international inquiry, but insisted that any future inquiry would have to work with the government. At a press conference on 25 March, then Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said the inquiry would be expected to work within an established framework "in co-operation with the state".[19]
Response from the Arab world[edit]
Several Arab states also joined in with the withdrawal demands. As Assad arrived in Saudi Arabia for emergency consultation with then Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdelaziz, Assad was told in no uncertain terms that Syria must comply with UN Security Council demands immediately. It was reported by the opposition Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star that Assad offered to remove most of the 15,000 troops Syria has stationed in Lebanon during the talks, but insisted on leaving a force of 3,000 in the country.[28] This has not been independently corroborated.
The annual Arab summit, which took place on 23 March in Algeria, did not ask Syria to withdraw, which would have given the pullback an Arab endorsement as envisaged in the 1989 Taif Agreement rather than making it dependent on Resolution 1559. Algerian Foreign Minister Abdel-Aziz Belkhadem discussed the consensus ahead of the summit, stating that "we all agreed to demand the implementation of the Taif Accord with respect to international legitimacy". Controversially, the crisis in Lebanon was not included on the agenda for the summit,[31] which almost half of the Arab leaders did not attend.
Pro-Syrian demonstration[edit]
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for a "massive popular gathering" on 8 March supporting Syria and accusing Israel and the United States of meddling in Lebanon's internal affairs. Nasrallah also criticized UN Resolution 1559 saying "The resistance will not give up its arms... because Lebanon needs the resistance to defend it", and added "all the articles of U.N. resolution give free services to the Israeli enemy who should have been made accountable for his crimes and now finds that he is being rewarded for his crimes and achieves all its demands."[32]
CNN noted some news agencies estimated the crowd at 200,000,[33] the Associated Press news agency estimated that there were more than 500,000 pro-Syrian protesters, while The New York Times and Los Angeles Times simply estimated "hundreds of thousands".[34] Al Jazeera reported a figure of 1.5 million. The predominantly Shi'ite protesters held pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and placards reading, in English, "No for the American Intervention". Some media sources noted that it was likely that many of Lebanon's approximately 500,000 Syrian guest workers participated in the rally.[35][36] In addition to demonstrating the extent of popular support for Syria among Shi'ites, the demonstration reiterated Hezbollah's rejection of Resolution 1559, whose call for the disbanding of all Lebanese militias threatens the continued existence of its military wing, the force credited for the liberation of south Lebanon from Israeli occupation. Nasrallah also held demonstrations in Tripoli and Nabatiyé on 11 and 13 March.
Ten days after his resignation, Omar Karami was reappointed prime minister and called on the opposition to participate in government until the elections slated for April 2005.
On 13 March, tens of thousands protested in the southern city of Nabatiyé in support of Syria and opposition to UNSCR 1559, according to reports. The Tripoli protests were canceled.
Resurgent counter-demonstrations[edit]
On 14 March, the one-month memorial of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese rallied in central Beirut on Monday chanting "Freedom, Sovereignty, Independence" and carrying a huge Lebanese flag. They flocked from throughout the country, many unable to even enter the city due to heavy traffic. The demonstration was called by the different factions of the anti-Syrian opposition (including the Hariri family and other groupings) and was trumpeted by the different private media, namely Future TV, a private enterprise part of the media empire controlled by Hariri's family and the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation LBCI, generally aligned with the Lebanese Forces, the right-wing Christian party.
The demonstration occurred in Martyrs' Square, the site of Hariri's grave and a center of the newly reconstructed city rebuilt in large part through Hariri's efforts. During the Lebanese civil war, factional infighting between the groups united in Martyrs' Square had turned the area into an impassable moonscape.
The Lebanese protesters demanded an international inquiry into Hariri's murder, the firing of Syrian-backed security chiefs in the Lebanese government, and a total Syrian pullout from Lebanon.[37][38]
Withdrawal of Syrian troops[edit]
On 26 April 2005, international news agencies and the UN reported the last Syrian troops and intelligence agents had crossed the border in withdrawal from Lebanon. The Syrian government officially notified the United Nations that it had withdrawn its troops in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in September 2004. In a letter to the UN, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara said his country "would like to officially inform you that the Syrian Arab forces stationed in Lebanon, at the request of Lebanon and under an Arab mandate, have fully withdrawn all their military, security apparatus and assets." On 27 April 2005,[39] the Lebanese People celebrated for the first time their first day free from Syrian omnipresence.[40] Also on 27 April 2005, The Washington Post reported that "Syria has not withdrawn a significant part of its intelligence presence in Lebanon, undermining its claim yesterday to have ended its 29-year intervention in its western neighbor, U.S., European and U.N. officials said."[41] This claim was reiterated by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice on 25 May.[42]
Wave of democracy[edit]
Both participants and observers of the Cedar Revolution demonstrations have asked if the movement was influenced by recent local and regional events supporting democracy. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt remarked to a reporter of The Washington Post, "It's strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq. I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world".
Other views maintain that Lebanese anger against perceived Syrian hegemony had been simmering for decades, and the assassination of a popular leader was the spark that gave birth to the movement, independently of foreign and regional developments. Lebanese opposition leader and newspaper columnist Samir Kassir, for example, wrote that "democracy is spreading in the region not because of George Bush but despite him." He gave far more credit to the Palestinian uprising as an inspiration to Lebanese activists.[43]
Others caution that very little has actually changed, apart from the mainly "cosmetic" disappearance of Syrian Soldiers from their presence on the outskirts of Lebanese cities, and that Syrian control of Lebanese foreign affairs and trade may yet endure. Some critics argue that the rush to celebrate a supposed 'Revolution' was far too premature.[44]
When Omar Karami failed to form a government, he resigned for good on 13 April 2005, and elections were called for the period of 29 May through 19 June 2005. Saad Hariri formed an anti-Syrian bloc that, ultimately, won 72 of the 128 available seats in the unicameral National Assembly. With no Syrian troops to stop them, Israel easily invaded in 2006, with only Hezbollah offering substantive resistance.