The Road to Damascus Goes Through Beirut

Lebanon is occupied territory. It is occupied by Syria. The UNSC passed UNSCR#1559 demanding that Syria removes its forces. Syria has been stalling. Yesterday, the USA issued a new harshly worded warning to Syria reminding it if its responsibilities uder UNSCR#1559:

The United States has rejected what it called 'procrastination tactics' by the governments in Beirut and Damascus to delay Syria's military withdrawal from Lebanon and asserted that the Bush administration would not let the enforcement of U.N. resolution 1559 be postponed until peace breaks out in the Middle East. "The justification by the governments of Syria and Lebanon that resolution 1559 will be enforced once all other previous resolutions concerning the Arab-Israeli conflict are enforced is a flagrant tactic for not implementing 1559," said Elizabeth Dibble, who heads the Middle East Bureau of the U.S. State Department. "The United States does not intend to delay resolution 1559 pending the implementation of the region's other resolutions," Dibble said in an interview aired by the U.S.-sponsored SAWA Arabic-language radio station Thursday evening. Excerpts of the interview were reported by An Nahar Friday morning. "Resolution 1559 was taken as an independent resolution," she said. "It is clear that we want to see a comprehensive solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict, but we do not intend to delay 1559 pending that day." The Syrian forces, Dibble added, must leave Lebanon. "I believe that the contention that implementation should await comprehensive peace is an additional procrastination tactic by Syria and Lebanon." She charged that Hizbullah "harbors intention to destabilize the region" and said the United States "cannot differentiate between Hizbullah's terrorist activities and it political status."

If Syria fails to withdraw, the US might use the threat of force to compel Syria withdrawal - and to thereby weaken its terrorist client/surrogate Hizb'allah. This would have beneficial effects on the Israeli-Arab "peace process."

The threat of force on the Lebanese "front" and the subsequent withdrawal of Syria troops would also enable Syria to redeploy its army where it's really needed: on the Iraqi border (where they will either seal the border or be destroyed by US forces who would be retaliating against the Baathists and Neojihadists who are using Syria as a base of operations.

IOW: I expect the US to use the Syrian occupation of Lebabnon as a lever. STAY TUNED.

For more on UNSCR#1559 go HERE (to read it) and HERE (for an historical analysis) .