Posted on 12/05/2005 8:34:00 AM PST by Valin
ANJAR, Lebanon (AP) - On a small hill overlooking this border town, once a stark symbol of Syrian power in Lebanon, white-gloved forensic experts comb the earth for grisly reminders of this country's brutal past. Authorities have known about the mass grave for years but they have only now begun to exhume it, digging up 28 bodies over the weekend in a new challenge to Syria. The site is near the former headquarters of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon. Syria vacated the headquarters - notorious for the torture of prisoners - when it withdrew its soldiers from Lebanon in April, ending its 29-year domination of its small neighbor. "I have known about this mass grave since 1999, but who dared say anything back in those days?" said Shaaban al-Ajami, the mayor of Anjar, in eastern Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. "I was repeatedly advised to keep my mouth shut."
The dead have not yet been identified, but one security official said some may be Lebanese soldiers killed in a Syrian offensive at the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. At least one of the bodies was wearing a Lebanese soldier's uniform. About 17,000 Lebanese who disappeared during the war are still missing. Syria entered the war in 1976, ostensibly as a stabilizing force. Syria's withdrawal followed the Feb. 14 assassination of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri, which provoked anti-Syrian protests and intensified international pressure on Damascus to remove its army. Subsequently elections yielded the first Lebanese parliament in years without a pro-Syrian majority.
A U.N. investigation has implicated several Syrian officials in Hariri's killing and accused Syria of obstructing the inquiry. Syria denies any role in the killing and says the U.N. probe is politically motivated, but the international attention has emboldened Lebanon.
A prominent Lebanese human rights activist who visited the mass grave said it shows the "criminal nature" of the Syrian regime and called for an international investigation. "We want to know why they died, how they died and why they were thrown here," said Ghazi Aad, director of a group trying to learn the fate of missing Lebanese.
Syria denies any involvement in the mass grave, calling the accusations a pretext to damage Damascus. In November, Syrian President Bashar Assad lashed out at the wave of anti-Syrian sentiment, describing Lebanon as a "factory" of conspiracies against Damascus and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora as a "slave" to the West.
Since Syria's withdrawal, Saniora has sought diplomatic relations with Damascus, which would amount to recognizing Lebanon as an independent nation. "Lebanese have to realize that they must make their own decisions by themselves, and the Syrian brothers have to get used to Lebanon being an independent country," Saniora said during a visit to Qatar late last month. Syria has always insisted both countries are too close to each other for such ties, strengthening fears that Damascus harbors designs to swallow Lebanon.
So few Lebanese were convinced last week when Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa embraced Saniora at a meeting in Spain and declared "a new page" in bilateral relations. "Are we to believe that we have reached the end of an era of domineering relations?" the Lebanese newspaper Daily Star asked in an editorial.
Tensions are expected to increase as the U.N. investigation continues with five Syrian officials to be questioned in Vienna this week. Both sides accuse each other of fabricating lies to mislead the probe. "There can be no settlement whatsoever with this (Syrian) regime before the truth behind the assassination of martyr Rafik Hariri is revealed," said prominent Lebanese politician and Druse leader Walid Jumblatt.
During the summer, Syria clamped a virtual land siege on Lebanon, leaving hundreds of trucks stranded at border crossings. Lebanon, meanwhile, complained of weapons' smuggling from Syria and accused Syrian-backed Palestinian militants of seeking to destabilize this country. Many Lebanese blamed Syria for a string of bombings targeting politicians and journalists.
Guess what!
Syrians declared in their media that these corpses belong to the men killed in the battle of Anjar 1622 A.D. between the Lebanese Emir (then in alliance with Florence). The governor of Damascus was captured during this battle.
between the Lebanese Emir and the governor of Damascus.
Just as I suspected.
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