BEIRUT - A month after Syria and Lebanon set up diplomatic relations, the two neighbours appear far from a full normalisation as proven by mutual accusations over a radical Islamist group. Visits to Damascus by high-ranking Lebanese officials, including President Michel Sleiman and Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, the setting up of a joint security commission and the decision to open embassies in each capital had been touted as signs of political rapprochement.

But a bitter war of words has erupted following the broadcast earlier this month on Syrian television of purported confessions by members of Fatah al-Islam claiming responsibility for a bomb attack in Damascus that left 17 dead in September. The televised confessions included claims that the anti-Syrian Future Party of Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri had financed the Al-Qaeda-inspired militants allegedly behind the bombing.

Hariri's party has angrily denied the claims, saying they were but an attempt to divert attention from the fact that Syrian intelligence was actually in collusion with members of Fatah al-Islam.

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, which is owned by Hariri's family, at the weekend published what it said was testimony by detained Fatah al-Islam militants which supported this thesis. Members of the militant group fought a fierce three-month battle with the Lebanese army last year in the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. The fighting left some 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers.

The group has been accused of involvement in deadly bomb attacks in August and September targeting the Lebanese army. "This media war takes us back to square one regarding the normalisation of relations between Syria and Lebanon," said Nabil Bou Monsef, a political commentator with the daily An-Nahar newspaper, which is close to the Saudi-backed parliamentary majority.

Ghassan Elezzi, a political science professor at the Lebanese University, said it would be naive to think Syria and Lebanon could act as friends in light of the animosity that has defined their relations in the past three decades.

After 30 years of living under Syrian tutelage, after all the assassinations that have shaken Lebanon in recent years, you can't imagine things easily going back to normal," Elezzi told AFP. Syrian troops pulled out of Lebanon in April 2005 after a 29-year deployment, following charges of Syrian involvement in the murder of former premier Rafiq Hariri. Damascus has repeatedly denied the charge.

Paul Salem, director of the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre, said the tit-for-tat accusations now taking place showed that Damascus has grown in confidence as US President George W. Bush prepares to leave the White House.

The Bush administration has had strained relations with Damascus. "The Syrians feel more comfortable now and are progressively adopting a condescending tone to show the Lebanese that they are the masters," Salem told AFP.

Syria is aiming to please the Americans by saying it is against radical movements and as such against terrorism," Salem said. "It is telling Washington 'You can count on us in this field more so than on your Saudi friends'."
He said future ties between Beirut and Damascus now hinged on how president-elect Barack Obama acted toward Syria and whether he would cut a "deal" with Damascus that would allow it to regain control of its smaller neighbour as was the case with previous US administrations. -AFP