American and Lebanese experts and activists argued in Congress on Tuesday that the United States should apply more pressure to further curb the influence of Iran, Syria and their proxies in Lebanon. By limiting such influence, experts said, the Lebanese would get the opportunity to reform their system, stabilize their country, and therefore stabilize the whole region.

"I realize that there is a debate on whether the US should engage Syria or should continue with its current policy of isolation," said Firas Maksad, executive director of the Lebanon Renaissance Foundation during a panel before a crowd of Congress staff, experts and diplomats.

The panel, which was co-sponsored by the American Islamic Congress and Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ), saw the participation of Lebanese Sheikh Maarouf Rahhal; Judge of the Shia Court of Byblos and Kesrouan and representative of the mufti of Tyre and South Lebanon Sayyed Ali Al-Amin; Tony Badran, research fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies; and David Schenker, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Rahhal and a delegation of Lebanese Shia are on a one-week visit to Washington, where they are holding meetings with senior administration officials and congress people.

"I would say that whatever US policy is employed, it should have the same goal of limiting foreign influence so that the Lebanese can have breathing space to start reform for a stable Lebanon and a stable region," Maksad argued.

According to Maksad, the problem in Lebanon is a structural one due to the sectarian nature of its system. "In fact, it is a phenomenon of the Lebanese system that has been there for the past 400 years, since the Ottomans," he said.

"Yet we do see that there is a phenomenon where Lebanese communities tend to come together when foreign domination is overbearing," he added. This coming together, Maksad argued, happened in 1840, "when different communities joined forces to face Egyptian hegemony;" in 1943, "with the National Pact, during Lebanon's first independence;" and also in 2005, "in what we know as the Cedar Revolution, but what people on the ground call the Independence Intifada."

Maksad said, "There is also an interesting observation. Going back to Ottoman times, Lebanon always had problems in its relations with the neighboring Ottoman states of Damascus and Akko, which is roughly equal to modern day Syria and Israel, respectively."

Sheikh Maarouf Rahhal, for his part, said that the basis of any religion is tolerance and that no one can claim to speak on its behalf.

Rahhal then slammed the Iranian Shia ideology of Wilayat Al-Fakih, which mandates the rule of one religious scholar over the affairs of Shia around the world. "We disagree with the concept of Wilayat Al-Fakih because it represents oppression of thought. The Shia around the world have the right to follow the religious interpretations of scholars from any country they please, including Iran. Yet they are not expected to follow the political leadership of any one of their religious leaders, but rather pledge allegiance to the state of their citizenship," he said.

Rahhal added, "Late Imam Mohamed Mahdi Shamseddine said during a trip to Bahrain that Shia must be loyal to their different countries. Along these lines, we support a strong Lebanese state… Lebanon has always been and will remain the country of national coexistence."

Meanwhile, Tony Badran highlighted the regional context of the Lebanese stalemate. "Lebanon’s problems have domestic, regional and international aspects. Oftentimes, the regional aspects are overlooked, such as inter-Arab politics," he said.

"Syria seeks a leading regional role, but it is unable to rally the Arabs around it and is in fact in confrontation with them. To pursue this objective, Syria is relying on its 30-year old alliance with Iran to keep opponent Arab states in check while maintaining its radical assets, which allow the regime to pursue such an objective," Badran argued.

Badran also said that after the Cedar Revolution and the move to push Syria out of Lebanon in 2005, Assad tried to seek cover from Saudi Arabia and Egypt to refocus the international demand for Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon into one of repositioning to the Bekaa Valley.

"This would have also helped [Syrian President Bashar] Assad circumvent UN Security Council Resolution 1559," he added. However, both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to Badran, turned Assad down and made it clear that the withdrawal of his troops from Lebanon was irreversible.

"The Saudis then proceeded to give the Syrians plenty of opportunities to adjust and modify their behavior in Lebanon throughout 2005 and early 2006, but to no avail," Badran said. "Assad wanted an Arab mandate for his return to Lebanon and an Arab position against the formation of the Special Tribunal on Lebanon over the Hariri assassination," he added.

The Lebanese expert said that despite its nominal agreement on the Arab initiative for Lebanon, which mandates the election of a president, the formation of a national unity government and the approval of a new electoral law, Syria obstructed the plan tacitly through its Lebanese allies.

He concluded, "As it stands, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are apparently unmovable in their position on Lebanon, while at the same time, Syria is using Iranian influence to try to bolster its position in Lebanon and the region."

Schenker described the Iranian-Syrian alliance as an ideological one based on the shared interest of opposing a strong US military presence in the Middle East, which they view as a threat.

He commended US support of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's government, but urged Congress to cut on its delegates' trips to Damascus since these send the Assad regime wrong messages.

"Politically and rhetorically, the administration has been very strong in backing the March 14 alliance government," he said. However, he added, "Congressional delegations traveling to Damascus have been incredibly damaging to Lebanon… providing Bashar Assad with a misimpression of a divided US foreign policy."

He also said that the US has been successful in leading a coalition in support of Lebanon at the United Nations. "The most important work is that the United States has kept the focus on the issue of justice for the Lebanese in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri," said Schenker.