JW: On the geopolitical level, part of what is happening in Lebanon is directed against Syria, for an unstable Lebanon has always had a negative impact on stability in Syria. The US has lost much of its bargaining in Syria and is trying to make up for this loss by taking full control of Lebanon. On the economic level, Lebanon has always benefitted from being the gateway of western capital into Syria and the region via the port of Beirut-Damascus axis; many Lebanese capitalist families are of Damascene or Aleppan origins, so at a time when Syria was thinking of reconstruction, the Lebanese crisis, partly generated by US sanctions, was directed against Syrian efforts of reconstruction.
Steven Sahiounie is an award-winning journalist and political commentator
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