French Foreign Policy Toward Syria: From Friendship To Hostility – Analysis
By <
http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/the-journal-of-turkish-weekly/> JTW
-- (March 21, 2013)
By Walid Belbachir
Despite the reservations of several EU members, France and the United
Kingdom decided to arm the Syrian rebels. French Foreign Minister, Laurent
Fabius stated that “it is one of the last remaining ways to shift the
situation on the political level”[1] and the supply of arms will be
implemented within the limits of French national capacity. Designed to
rebalance the power relation between the regime and the opponents, the
majority of these weapons are surface-to-air missiles (Stinger or/and
Mistral) and anti-aircraft weapons. This decision, that might be a crucial
turning point in the management of the conflict by the Western countries,
invites us to shed light on French policies toward Syria, from Francois
Mitterrand until Nicolas Sarkozy, to better understand a situation that
might hardly be grasped. During more than 30 years, relations between Syria
and France were delicate and complex.
Francois Mitterrand: Close friend of Assad regime
The first test for the newly elected Francois Mitterrand arose in 1982 with
the Hama massacre. Led by the Muslim Brotherhood, the uprising was repressed
in blood by Hafez Al-Assad and around 20,000 people lost their lives.
Despite the brutality of the repression, Francois Mitterrand did not condemn
the regime. According to Didier Billion, a researcher at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Paris (IRIS), the government of the
day preferred to turn a blind eye rather than supporting the Muslim
Brotherhood.[2] But except the fear of fundamentalism, the main concerns
were related to French interests in the Middle East and in Lebanon in
particular. As mentioned in Caroline Donati’s book,[3] “French policy toward
Syria has always been determined by the country’s interests in Lebanon.” On
November 1984, during an official visit of Francois Mitterrand to Damascus,
the French President gave a speech summarizing Paris’ position towards the
regime:
“Mr. President, this journey has a great importance for me. Firstly because
of the high consideration I have for the Syrian people and also because of
the leading role that you have throughout the world. Nothing really
constructive can happen in the Middle East without Syria, and thus, without
your cooperation.”[4] For Antoine Basbous, director of the observatory on
Arab Countries, Francois Mitterrand “despised Assad’s methods but respected
him.”[5]
Jacques Chirac era: Rising trouble
For French diplomacy in the Middle East, Assad regime had always been
perceived as a troublesome actor. Nevertheless, its capacity to cause
nuisance conferred to the regime a key role in terms of regional security.
With the inauguration of Jacques Chirac who was elected in 1995, the end of
Syrian grip over Lebanon became one of the purposes of the new French policy
toward Assad regime. On 7 November 1999, Bashar Al-Assad took his first
steps on the international stage during a visit to Jacques Chirac. A
statement issued by the Presidency of the French Republic announced that
“this meeting is part of active efforts from France to strengthen relations
with Arab countries.”[6]
In 2000, Jacques Chirac was the only Western President attending Hafez Al-
Assad’s funeral. The French President tried to convince Bashar Al-Assad to
free Lebanon from its troops and to stop interfering in Lebanese political
life. Jacques Chirac’s aim was to install his friend Rafic Hariri at the
post of Lebanese presidency. But after Hariri’s assassination in 2005,
France cut its ties with Syria and Jacques Chirac did everything he could to
isolate Syria.
Nicolas Sarkozy: Normalization with Syria
In 2007, the newly inaugurated president Sarkozy decided to reach out the
Syrian regime by offering a chance to take Bashar Al-Assad out of his
international isolation. In return, Syria accepted to recognize Lebanon as
an independent state but was also supposed to put an end to its relations
with Iran and Hezbollah. During a joint press interview between Nicolas
Sarkozy and Bashar Al-Assad in 2008, the French president declared: “You
would understand that our two countries are implementing a new relationship,
not only for some days or weeks. These relations are structural and
strategic. And obviously, the evolution of this relationship will no longer
depend on talks and speeches, but will be based on facts and evidences, from
both sides.”
However, Iran cruelly needs its Syrian ally and managed to strengthen
collaboration in the political, economic and military spheres between the
two countries. A recent report published by the Director of National
Intelligence (DNI) is clear on this issue: “Iran’s efforts to secure
regional hegemony, however, have achieved limited results, and the fall of
the Assad regime in Syria would be a major strategic loss for Tehran.”[7]
And because Assad’s regime had always felt threatened due to its
geographical situation, Damascus never accepted to cut its ties with Iran
and Hezbollah. The failure of French diplomacy, in its attempt to break the
“Shiite arc”, was therefore predictable by then.
References
1. Howard Lafranchi, “France dials up pressure on US to arm Syrian rebels”,
The Christian Monitor, March 14, 2013.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2013/0314/France-dials-up-pressu
re-on-US-to-arm-Syrian-rebels
2. Paul Larrouturou, “Trente Ans de Relations Complexes Entre les Présidents
Syriens et Francais”, Le Monde, April 29, 2011.
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2011/04/29/france-syrie-des-rela
tions-mouvementees_1513589_3218.html
3. Caroline Donati, “The Syrian Exception Between Modernization and
Resistance”, Broché, Paris, 2009.
4. “Allocution de M. François Mitterrand, Président de la République, au
Diner Offert par M. Le Président de la République arabe syrienne et Mme
Hafez Al Assad, sur la politique étrangère de la France”, Damascus, November
26, 1984.
http://discours.vie-publique.fr/notices/857000100.html
5. Paul Larrouturou, “Trente Ans de Relations Complexes Entre les Présidents
Syriens et Francais”, Le Monde, April 29, 2011.
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2011/04/29/france-syrie-des-rela
tions mouvementees_1513589_3218.html
6. Nelly Helou, “Bachar Al-Assad à l’Elysée.”
http://www.rdl.com.lb/1999/3714/bachar.html
7. James R. Clapper, “World Threat Assessment of the US intelligence
Community”, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, March 12, 2013.
http://cryptome.org/2013/03/dni-13-0312.pdf
------------[ Sent via the dehai-wn mailing list by dehai.org]--------------
Received on Thu Mar 21 2013 - 19:01:15 EDT
