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  The World From Berlin: 'Syria's Policy of Intimidation in Lebanon Has Failed'

The World From Berlin 'Syria's Policy of Intimidation in Lebanon Has Failed'

The United Nations has voted to establish an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri -- a decision that has divided the country. German commentators mull over whether the move will bring peace to Lebanon, or destablize it even further.

The United Nations Security Council voted on Wednesday to set up an international tribunal to investigate the 2005 murder of the former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. The resolution, supported by 10 of the 15 members of the Security Council, allows for the unilateral establishment of a tribunal if Lebanon has not set up one of its own by June 10.

Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive suicide bomb attack on Feb. 14, 2005. Huge protests after the assassination forced Syria to end its decades-long military presence in the country. The initial investigation into the crime by Germany's Detlev Mehlis pointed to a possible involvement of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence agents.

The Lebanese prime minister Fuad Saniora welcomed the UN decision on Wednesday, calling it "a triumph for Lebanon against injustice, crime and tyranny." However, Syria and its allies in Lebanon have fiercely condemned the tribunal. Syrian-backed Hezbollah said that the Security Council had placed Lebanon under "international tutelage, without decision-making and sovereignty." And Syria's government newspaper Tishrin said the decision could have "dangerous repercussions for Lebanese national unity." Lebanon is split into pro-Western and pro-Syrian camps over the murder and the tribunal, and street clashes between the sides in recent months have killed 11 people.

German commentators Friday are divided about the wisdom of setting up the tribunal. While some see it as an important way to support democracy and justice in Lebanon, others fear it could just further exacerbate tensions in the country.

The conservative daily Die Welt writes:

"The murder ... of the ex-prime minister and critic of Syria ... still resonates today and is one of the causes of the political instability, the social conflict and the almost civil-war-like circumstances in Lebanon. Lebanon will not find peace without a full explanation of the political murder. The tribunal will open up old wounds, increase tensions and inflame hatreds anew. But, after painstaking work, it will also come up with a result which will allow the country to peacefully return to the international community."

"It is an important, brave and necessary signal to Hariri's murderers and their sponsors, whether they are in Damascus or Beirut."

"The UN ... is also sending an additional message: The international community is not indifferent to Lebanon, and wants to support it, so as to protect it from the illegal interference of regional powers in its internal affairs. Syria should take that to heart, as should Iran, which is deliberately keeping Lebanon fragile through its political tool Hezbollah."

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

"Henry Kissinger once coined the irrefutable phrase: there can be no peace in the Middle East without Syria."

"The UN's decision to set up a Hariri tribunal ... is a helpful signal of toughness and determination on the part of the West towards Syria, after the Europeans and even the US have had little success in trying to pursue dialogue with Damascus."

"In Lebanon, which the Syrians claim as their own sphere of influence, al-Assad's allies are organizing radical resistance against the planned tribunal."

"It is a great help for the Lebanese premier Fuad Saniora and his supporters, who want to end Syrian interference in their country. Al-Assad must realize that his policy of intimidation has failed."

The left-leaning Die Tageszeitung writes:

"The resolution aggravates an extremely fragile situation in Lebanon. The country is politically divided almost exactly in half. The Western-backed Saniora government and the Hezbollah-led opposition alliance are embroiled in a power struggle, in which there has been no winner so far. The question of the international tribunal is at the heart of the conflict. The Saniora government is celebrating the tribunal as a victory for justice. The opposition, however, fears that a politicized tribunal is an interventionist move to tip the Lebanese balance of power against them and their Syrian allies."

"Now the Security Council has chosen one of the two sides. It is debatable if it has done Lebanon a favor ... . The Security Council has hardly made the dangerous situation in Lebanon any calmer, but has rather made it worse."

The center-right Frankurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

"This small democracy in the Levant, divided by religious tensions and clan interests, is too weak to be able to clear up a political crime of this kind alone."

"It certainly cannot become the rule that such crimes are dealt with in this kind of external, international way. But the Lebanese hope that the internationalization will have a deterrent effect. Up to now it was possible to get away scot free as long as you were powerful enough ... ."

"It is not yet clear what the make-up of the tribunal will be. And no one can say yet if the court will really be able to reach a verdict and carry it out. But for the Lebanese -- provided they are not in the pro-Syrian camp -- even this beginning is a success."

-- Siobhán Dowling, 2:15 p.m. CET