Good News for Lebanon

I haven't blogged all that much about international affairs here since so much has been going on with politics in this country, but I wanted to make a brief comment on today's affairs in Lebanon. After a 29-year military presence, Syrian troops and intelligence agents completed their pullout from their smaller neighbor. This is a major victory for the people of Lebanon, who demosntrated in massive numbers against Syria following the murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri on February 14. Syria is widely believed to have been involved in that attack, which is now the subject of a UN-backed investigation.

This is not only good news for the Lebanese people (for obvious reasons), but also has the potential to be very good news for the people of Syria. If the Lebanese can function out from under the thumb of Bashar Assad's military, some analysts suggest, the Syrians may begin to push for democratic reforms at home as well.

This says it all: in an ABC report on the Syrian withdrawal, a resident of the Lebanese town of Anjer is quoted as saying of the Syrians "We are very happy to see them go. They might be our brothers, but they have been treading on our hearts for too long."