Syrian President, Bachar el-Assad, and Lebanese President, Michel Sleiman, on July 12, 2008, on the flight of steps of the Elysée in Paris, where they were received by President Nicolas Sarkozy

The image did not pass unnoticed. Wednesday, July 16, 2008, at Rafic Hariri international airport of Beirut, the Lebanese Christian president Michel Sleiman, the Sunnite Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Shiite President of Parliament Nabih Berri gave a warm welcome to the prisoners of Hezbollah released by Israel in exchange for the corpses of two Israeli soldiers kidnapped the day before the war on Lebanon, in July 2006. An optimal way to consolidate a very fresh national unity and putting an end to the conflict that caused 1.300 dead on the Lebanese side and 139 on the Israeli side. This event transcended political schisms that had led the Country of the Cedars last May on the verge of civil war. It is taking place at a time when Lebanon is experiencing a period of almost unexpected stability. Irony of the calendar: the day before, the new government held its first session. For the Party of God offspring of the Israeli invasion of 1982, victory is two-fold. Despite the American pressures, the party of Hassan Nasrallah conquered the blocking minority to which he aspired for rallying the government. Moreover, by obtaining from the sworn enemy, Israel, the release of five prisoners, the Party of God further increased its legitimacy of resistance movement. And here is the trap. With the strength of its “triumph”, Hezbollah can decide its full integration in the Lebanese political life. However, it can also keep acting as leverage to its Iranian and Syrian mentor.

Far from integrating itself in the Lebanese army, the Party of God has, on the contrary, considerably rearmed itself since the war of 2006. In order to be viable in the long run, the Lebanese State will have to regain control of the areas which it had, up to now, given up to Hezbollah. In Paris, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy received forty heads of state and government who came to take part in the summit of launching the Union for the Mediterranean (UPM), on Sunday, July 13, 2008. This event served as springboard for the dialogue between Lebanon and Syria, whereby Syrian President Bachar el-Assad engaged before President Michel Sleiman to establish normal diplomatic relations involving the opening of embassies in the two countries. In Lebanon, where the great summer festivals began in Byblos, Beiteddine and Baalbek, thousands of Lebanese from abroad as well as Arab and European friends and others keep coming in a climate very favorable to the resumption of Tourism.