The Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs Walid Mouallem flew to Lebanon in late July to extend an official invitation to Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Mouallem said in a press conference, “Our relations today our based on a principle of equality. (Lebanon) has a consensus president who has been keeping up solid relations with President Assad. We can now take advantage of this to fix many of our recent problems.” The summit takes place on August 13.

To symbolise a break with their troubled past, the Syrian diplomat traveled by air rather than by ground as was the custom during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. This visit comes after al-Assad’s return to the international stage at the Mediterranean Union summit, organized by France. In Paris, Lebanon and Syria announced they would establish diplomatic staff in each others’ nations, a first since the two nations became independent in the 1940s.

Several months earlier, Lebanon was in a political cesspool. The presidency was vacant, the parliament closed, and the government paralysed. Relations with Syria, with whom it shares a 359 km border, were at an all-time low. Since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005, the majority of parliament members accused Syria’s Baath regime of destabilizing the land of the cedar tree by backing political assassins. Parliament also accused the regime of supporting Hezbollah-led political plotting. It was a return to stormy times.

September 2, 2004: At the behest of Washington and Paris, the UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1559, calling for a withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon.

February 14, 2005: Former PM Rafik Hariri is assassinated in the heart of Beirut. The opposition accuses Damascus of having ordered the hit.

March 8: In Beirut, Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian parties united several hundred thousand pro-Syrian protesters.

March 14: Over a million demonstrators gather in the capital demanding that the Syrian army withdraw from Lebanon, as well as calling for the end of Syrian tutelage. The movement becomes known as The Cedar Revolution.

April 26: The Syrian army withdraws from Lebanon after 27 years of presence.

June 2: Lebanese journalist and writer Samir Kassir is assassinated. He topped a long list of anti-Syrian intellectuals and deputies eliminated over the years.

May-June: Legislative elections yield an anti-Syrian majority in parliament. Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, is the overwhelming victor. Fuad Siniora is designated as a prime ministerial candidate.

May 17, 2006: The adoption of Resolution 1680 by the UN calls upon Syria to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon, and to respect the border between the two nations.

May 25, 2008: The Syrian minister of foreign affairs helps with a general election in which Michel Sleiman takes on the presidency of Lebanon.

July 12: In Paris, President Assad meets his Lebanese counterpart Michel Sleiman. Damascus expresses its desire to open diplomatic relations with Lebanon and place ambassadors in each others’ nations.

July 21: Syria’s minister of foreign affairs goes to Beirut to invite the Lebanese president to Damascus for a meeting with President Assad.