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Source: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100722/OPINION/707219932/1080
Syria's Old Habit of Dominion over Lebanon Dies Hard
(The National-UAE) Michael Young - Last weekend, Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, traveled to Damascus, where Lebanese and Syrian officials signed 17 bilateral agreements. Little has changed in the way Syria views Lebanon from the days when the Syrian army was in the country. For President Bashar Assad, Lebanon is there primarily to serve Damascus' regional interests, regardless of whether this undermines its sovereignty. Damascus only gains by using Lebanon as an open field for conflict, even as it profitably sells itself as the only party able to contain Hizbullah and mediate between the divided Lebanese. In other words, Syria is replicating its much-used tactic of setting fires it offers to extinguish.