Is Syria being revengeful ?

Syria's behavior towards Lebanon has drastically changed. The trip from Beirut to Damascus used to take 2 hours. This is no more the case. The Syrians have been playing tough ever since they were forced to withdraw from Lebanon.
"I have never seen anything like this in decades," said Hassun, a taxi driver who makes a living transporting passengers between the Lebanese and Syrian capitals. "Usually it is easy to cross the Syrian border post at Jdeide but the past few weeks it has been infernal," said Hassun after spending 45 minutes stuck at a Syrian military roadblock near the border.
"They interrogated us, searched the car and the passengers and confiscated some consumer goods. The people are fed up," Hassun told AFP.
"Most people think that these measures are provocative and that they increased since the pullout of Syrian troops from Lebanon.
Scores of commercial trucks are waiting to be cleared on the Syrian side of the borders, but the Syrians are in no hurry. Several attempts by Lebanese officials to resolve the ( border delay problem) did not succeed in convincing the Syrian authorities to act on this crisis. Even high level contacts between acting PM Mikati and his Syrian counterpart did not result in any solutions.
The Beirut Damascus highway is the lifeline of commerce for the Lebanese companies that export to the Arabian Gulf region. There is no other Land route to these markets and Syria knows this. This is why every time Syria wanted to blackmail Lebanon, they used the Syrian side of the Checkpoint on this highway to make it difficult for the Lebanese, by demanding additional paperwork, performing extra searches, reducing no of border inspectors and many other silly ideas that resulted in very long lines of trucks that kept getting longer. The result of course is more delays on the border. Many of the transported goods are agricultural produce that end up as garbage.
The irony here is that most of the farmers are Shiite Lebanese that live and work in the Bekaa region. Shiites stood by Syria when it was forced out of Lebanon. These border delays could result in many bankruptcies for these farmers, since they only get paid after the cargo gets sold in the country of destination. I wonder how the bankrupted farmers in Lebanon feel right now about Syria's border actions.
-The power plants of the electric utility company in Lebanon, were modified to accommodate Syrian natural gas that was supposed to start flowing in April 2005. There is no sign the Syrian gas will be flowing anytime soon.
The issue is of paramount importance to the Lebanese. Lebanon negotiated a deal to purchase the Syrian Gas at below market value. The Syrians now want to renegotiate the deal. This is another case of blackmail by the Syrians that forced the Lebanese to rethink their strategy and order tankers of liquid fuel instead, resulting in delays and power cuts.
The question remains : Is Syria being revengeful ?
Of course the Syrians do not want to admit any revengeful behavior. The border delays are blamed on extra security precautions and the gas flow in the pipeline on equipment malfunction. We hope this is the truth, but most analysts doubt it.
Syria has a history of thinking big but acting small. These border delays are precisely that. Syria could easily add few more inspectors and solve the problem. In the case of the Gas pipeline, Syria should show the Lebanese and the international community that they are a reliable partner, by honoring what they negotiated with the Lebanese.
Syria's behavior does not encourage the Lebanese community to establish good solid long term relationship with Syria. These little games show once again, that Syria will go to any measures to hurt Lebanon. Syria needs Lebanon as much as Lebanon needs Syria, so it is in Syria's interest to treat Lebanon on a more friendly basis.My advise to Syria: Think big and act big... Stop this blackmail!!