ABSTRACT

Chapter 7 examined aborted power-sharing and the paralysis of the Hariri government over the issues of the STL and false witnesses. Saudi Arabia and Syria coordinated their efforts to promote a solution for the Lebanese crisis and agreed on a number of points to consolidate stability in the post-indictment stage. The Syrian-Saudi initiative was the outcome of the summit meeting held at the presidential palace in Beirut on 30 July 2010 between Suleiman, Abdullah and Asad. The deal sought to achieve stability in Lebanon; take steps to ensure a reduction of political tension; restore contacts between all Lebanese parties; see that institutions returned to serving the public; and follow up the issue of Lebanese-Syrian relations. Apparently, there was a problem of credible commitment to the agreement amongst the Lebanese parties. Hariri said:

[T]he presence of King Abdullah in New York is not an excuse to refrain from implementing the agreement, because what was agreed happened a month before the king’s illness. Let it be understood frankly that any commitment on my part will not be carried out before the other side implements what it has committed to. This is the main base of the Saudi-Syrian efforts.1