When faith is put to the test by fire

Paul Stenhouse describes the escalating problems for Christians in Lebanon as the Syrians step-up their campaign of terror bombings.
A CAR loaded with 200 kilos of gelignite exploded in Ain Remanneh, in East Beirut on July 28, killing 32 persons and injuring more than 120 others—many of them gravely. Seven buildings, mainly apartments, were destroyed by the force of the bomb hidden in the Mercedes, or by the fires that the explosion caused.
The explosion occurred within walking distance of the apartment in Badaro where I stayed until about ten days ago. The Green Line dividing Christian East Beirut from the Moslem and Druze West, has seen intensified fighting over the past week—and commentators expect the violence against the Christian East to intensify.
Ain Remanneh, Ashrefieh and Badaro are all contiguous to the demarcation line that is a noman's land between the now relative quiet of the Christian East, and the chaos that has plagued the West of Beirut since Lebanon was plunged into war 11 years ago.
Two hypotheses have been advanced in the local Lebanese press for the recent bombing. Firstly, the Hazbollah ("Party of God") wish to make the point that Syrian "peace-keeping" efforts are doomed to failure, or, secondly that fanatical Moslems (belonging to the Hazbollah, Amal, or . . .) are continuing their vendetta agains the Christians.
Some weight has been given to this second theory because the recent exchanges of fire between Christian and Moslem forces have seen the Christians holding their own.
To these two hypotheses, a Lebanese journalist friend who has had first-hand experience of Syrian tactics in Lebanon for over 30 years, added a third: "The Syrians are again seeking a pretext to enter East Beirut. They first create the havoc, and then force their 'peace initiatives' on us."
Most Lebanese with whom I have spoken over the past weeks since Syria re-entered Beirut "to put an end to the insecurity" on July 4, have been expecting stepped-up violence against Christians throughout the whole of Lebanon.
Events seem to be proving them right.
On July 16, a day after I had left Jezzine, a Christian town in the mountains of South Lebanon to which more than 50,000 terrified Christian villagers fled the massacres and pillaging of April—May last year, a young girl belonging to the Syrian National Socialist Party blew herself up in the town square. Many passers-by were injured, and nearby shops and buildings destroyed.
A Syrian soldier was intercepted in the same town, on the same day, driving another car packed with explosives. He admitted that other cars like his,' filled with gelignite were "already in the Christian areas".
Last year 14 cars loaded with gelignite exploded in Christian South Lebanon alone—all driven by suicide squads belonging to extremist proSyrian Moslem groups.
This latest is the seventh bombing since January in Beirut, involving cars packed with explosives. In the preceding six explosions, 66 died and 440 were injured, many seriously. Those who see the hand of Syria behind these attacks are far from being paranoic or antiSyrian.
As I write this news has reached me of a further explosion—this time in Moslem West Beirut—with 20 persons dead and 140 injured.
On July 19, three days after the Jezzine bombing, in the zone controlled by the newly-arrived Syrian "security forces" unidentified killers stopped an American University bus carrying hospital staff into East Beirut to join their families for the weekend. They fired indiscriminately into the passengers, killing four of them with pistols equipped with silencers.
On July 25, a mob more than .2000-strong, attacked, sacked and destroyed the Moroccan Embassy in West Beirut, in retaliation for King Hassan's recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Peres. Again under the noses of the Syrian "security forces".
In connection with recently expressed Syrian anger towards King Hassan, it is possible that President Assad has not forgotten what the Moroccan King said in an interview given to the Kuwaiti paper Al-Siassa on June 25 1978: "I consider that the withdrawal of the Syrian army is a basic and essential element (in the search
for peace) in Lebanon."
"We dread the return of the Syrians," said a mother of three to me in Badaro in the first week of July. "For the past 11 years we have been made to suffer because of their lies and desire to possess our country. Why does the West always pander to them, and not offer help to us?"
The answer lies, many believe, in the inability or unwillingness of the West to grasp the nettle of the Arab oil cartel, and demand equality before the law for all, in eastern (Arab and Moslem) countries, as in the West.' Another factor is the dilemma of hostages, facing France, the United States and other western countries.
France, once an ally of Lebanon, is torn between wanting to help the Lebanese,• especially the Christians, and not wanting to exacerbate the position of its remaining four citizens held hostage "somewhere in Lebanon".
Meanwhile, few in Lebanon think that Syria's Vice President and Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam is speaking the truth when he claims that Syria has no idea where the hostages are being held.
"The area where they are *presumably to be found," he explained to France's Prime Minister on July 19 "is under the control of a militia". When 'pressed by journalists to identify the kidnappers, he added, "In Beirut there are many militias".
The release on July 26 of Fr Lawrence Jenco, an American ' Catholic priest held hostage by the Islamic Jihad ("Holy War") extremists, is regarded by informed sources as a sop to the West, and an attempt to convince moderate foreign governments that Syria is on the side of right. It proves the opposite to Syria-watchers in the Middle East.
If it takes 19 months for Syria to track down where one 'foreigner is being held in territory "controlled" by its troops, what credibility is there to Khaddam's claim in Paris last. week that "Syria is in Lebanon to put an end to the insecurity"?
Syrian troops and secret service personnel have been in. force and "in control" in the Beqaa Valley and in the North West and South of Lebanon since before 1976. And, one is told with a backward look over the shoulder, they are in the East as well!
Syria's record in Lebanon is one of provocation and chaos, torture and instigation to terrorism. In 1978, an article in L'Aurore under the name of Noel Darbroz said it all: "Syrian forces are totally discredited when it comes to bringing peace in Lebanon . . ." Despite this and other similar judgments, the western press continues to speak of Syria as a "mediator" and a "force for good" in the region.
What Christians (the majority of whom are Catholic) and moderate Moslems fear, is that this first "official" (and illegal) presence of Syrian troops in Beirut since 1982 is a presage of worse things to come. "How can the West stand by and allow the agent of our misfortune to pose as our 'saviour"' asked a former Lebanese Ambassador, as TV carried news of the Syrian "security plan".
A recent statement by French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac to Syrian Vice President Khaddam that "no lasting or valid solution can be found in 'Lebanon without the agreement of Syria" may well indicate, as many Lebanese Christians fear, that France is prepared to allow Syria to have its way in Lebanon provided France's hostages are 'released. Or it may be—as many others hope—that its ambiguity would have made the Delphic oracle blush!
If the western powers are truly prepared to allow Assad to assimilate Lebanon within some "Greater Syria" they will find that the will to resist of the Lebanese Christians has been strengthened, if anything, by their feeling of abandonment by the West. If necessary they will fight for their freedoms, alone.
And those same western powers may find in the future, that it is they and their countries which are hostages to future President Assads and Ayatollah Khomeinis, and they can have little reason to expect to find mercy. Lebanon, for those who know her and her fight to survive, is the testing ground. And the West's Achilles' heel is showing.
Paul Stenhouse is an Australian Catholic priest who was in Lebanon at the start of the war in 1975 and has spent much lime there since. He has just returned from Beirut and South Lebanon.