Within six months of the approval of the agreement in the National Assembly, all militias would have been dissolved. The agreement was approved on 22 October 1989 by 58 deputies (out of 62 MPs) at a solemn meeting in Taif. Under the agreement, all armed groups must be disbanded in early 1990. Taif Accord attempted to exercise the sovereignty of the Lebanese state on its internationally recognized territory and therefore had the provisions for the withdrawal of troops. At the time of the signing of the agreement, Syria has about 40,000 troops in Lebanon, which control about 65% of the country. Israel had a force of 1,500-3,000 in southern Lebanon in the so-called security zone. Israel had also relocated about 200,000 of its 2.7 million inhabitants to the controlled area. [fn] Sandra M. Saseen, “The Taif Accord and Lebanon`s Struggle to Regain Its Sovereignty,” American University Journal of International Law and Policy 6, No.
1(1990): 57, footnotes 2, 3. [/efn_note] Syria had accepted the principle of a possible withdrawal of troops from all Lebanese territory, but no withdrawal took place in 1989. Similarly, Israel continued its occupation. Behind the benevolent façade of a transfer of executive prerogatives from a once omnipotent presidency to the Council of Ministers, Taif has reorganized the powers and constitutional apparatuses. It has also established a whole new paradigm of a sectarian balance of power by ending the political and symbolic hegemony of the Maronite establishment. However, the purpose of the delegated presidential powers was unclear. By transferring these powers to the cabinet, where religious parity was a formal guarantee of equality between communities, Taif also spread and spread power, making it difficult to locate and exercise. Nor was it clear who was to answer for the decisions.
This situation was compounded by several provisions of the agreement, which probably remained deliberately vague and subject to interpretation. The Taif agreement was negotiated in Taif, Saudi Arabia, by the surviving members of the 1972 Lebanese parliament, designed by Parliament Speaker Hussein El-Husseini. The agreement included political reforms, an end to the Lebanese civil war, the establishment of special relations between Lebanon and Syria and a framework for the start of the full Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon. October 10, 1989, signed. While the civil war in Lebanon included relations between the different religious communities within the country, it was also part of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unfortunately, external intervention in Lebanese affairs did not end as planned. Syria and Iran continue to fund various groups, while armed conflicts resumed between Lebanon and Israel in late 2006. Syria is believed to be responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Baha ad-Din Hariri. As a result of the agreement, the country has made progress in rebuilding its political institutions and restoring its national sovereignty. It has established a political system that gives Muslims greater say in the political process. Critics, however, argue that the new agreements institutionalize sectarian divisions within the government, while no positive effort has been officially made for true reconciliation. The Taif Agreement recognized and paid tribute to Lebanon`s sovereignty and non-aligned status within the Arab League, but also spoke of a “special relationship” with Syria.
