Elias Hrawi
23 May 1991, President Hafez al-Assad of Syria and President Elias Hrawi of Lebanon signed a treaty in Damascus and announced that a new era of cooperation between the two neighboring countries had begun. Officially called the "Treaty of Brotherhood, Cooperation and Coordination", the agreement established a special relationship between them for the first time since they gained independence from France. The deal was said by anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians to be skewed in Syria's favour and implemented by a "Syrian-Lebanese Higher Council Council" that dealt with bilateral issues.