The road to Damascus was paved with dilemmas for Prime Minister Saad Hariri, both on a national and a personal level. Not only was the Syrian regime instrumental, with Saudi Arabia, in shaping the most recent Lebanese cabinet line-up, one that effectively watered down the March 14 coalition’s victory in the summer elections, it is the main suspect in Hariri’s father’s murder along with a string of subsequent killings and bombings. The visit, allegedly one of the consequences of the Syria-Saudi entente, was always going to be fraught.
 
Many Lebanese, almost exclusively those who support the ideals of the March 14 movement, will have been uncomfortable by the TV images beamed out of Damascus of Hariri kissing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. They will no doubt see the trip as a setback in Lebanon’s bid to consolidate its sovereignty over its territory and reinforce its democratic credentials. They will have resigned themselves to the fact that Syria still has a role in shaping Lebanese affairs through a loyal, not to mention well-armed, opposition, that it still runs guerrilla training camps in parts of the Bekaa and the southern approaches to Beirut, and that it has armed – or tolerated the rearmament of – Hezbollah through its notoriously porous border.
 
It’s not ideal; then again it never was. But, as the lyrics to the song remind us, it ain’t what you do but the way that you do it, and Hariri sought, successfully or not, to soften the impact of what many will have seen as the final act of capitulation by March 14 to nearly five years of Syrian pressure.
 
Firstly, his delegation flew rather than drove to Syria. This was important to stress its geographical “separation” from Lebanon. Secondly, he framed the visit in the context of his government’s ministerial policy statement and as part of a series of regional trips intended to, as he put it, “reunite Arab states and unify Arab positions on regional challenges.” In that way, he underlined that Lebanon’s relations with Syria would not be shaped by his family’s personal beef with the Baathist regime. In short, Hariri was styling himself as an Arab leader doing what an Arab leaders does. Privately, he might admit that there are sacrifices to be made for Lebanon’s stability, but being a lackey, like many of his predecessors were, is not one of them.
 
If we look at the glass half full, Hariri has passed his first test as prime minister, despite Syrian attempts to mire the visit in controversy with the timely issuing of the extradition notices on senior Lebanese officials. However, the real challenge is still to come. It will be his ability to defend Lebanon’s sovereign gains, which Syria, as demonstrated most recently in Washington and through various other diplomatic channels, is determined to overturn. They include UN Security Council resolutions 1559 and 1701, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, arguably the biggest prize of all. They are, for the time being, secure. Their perpetuity must be his priority.