If Syria is responsible for the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri -- as many observers believe -- it is only the most recent in a long line of that country's transgressions. And it must not go unanswered.
It marks a moment when much of the world is united against the regime of Bashar Assad, Syria's tyrannical dictator. It is clear that quashing Assad in Lebanon would strike a blow for liberty there. As important, it could strike a blow for a free Syria, and wider liberty in the Arab world.
Since 1970, Syria has been dominated by the Assads, a ruthless clique of Alawite politicians. The Alawites, a breakaway Muslim sect not dissimilar to Shiites, make up just 12% of the majority Sunni Syrian population.
Bashar Assad's father, Hafez, sent troops into Lebanon in the mid-1970s to quell its bloody, sectarian civil war. Syria never left, and the world tolerated this de facto annexation, reckoning that a strong man in Beirut was better than chaos. In fact, Lebanon has been more peaceful, though one terror group, Hezbollah, continues to operate with Syrian support throughout Lebanon.
But now Assad is under the gun as never before. He is an object of American fury for his sponsorship of terror, his meddling in Iraq and the occupation of Lebanon. He is an object of French fury for his crude manipulation of last year's presidential elections in Lebanon, in which the presidency was stolen to reinstall a Syrian stooge.
The unusual confluence of French and American anger resulted in a forceful U.N. Security Council resolution in September demanding the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the liberation of the Lebanese body politic from Syrian interference.
Hariri's murder should solidify the world's will against Assad. Hariri was a pragmatist who worked with Syria in his two tours as prime minister. Last year, however, the Syrian manipulation of Lebanon's election forced an angry resignation. Since then, he had come to pose an intolerable challenge to Assad, beginning to unify the Lebanese across their many sectarian lines for the first time since the civil war. He may yet succeed: In the wake of his murder, Lebanese of all stripes have taken to the streets to protest Damascus' interference in their lives and government.
