MORE PROOF: HIZBALLAH LOST

SMITH/WEEKLY STANDARD:

While one Lebanese station was interviewing Nasrallah last night, another was talking to former Syrian Vice-President Abd-el Halim Khaddam. In December, the London exile spoke out against the current Syrian leadership--until Saudi Arabia pulled the plug on Khaddam by forbidding Saudi-owned media from interviewing him. The Saudi kingdom owns most major Middle Eastern press outlets and, as one manager of a well-known Saudi-owned media concern told me at the time, Riyadh is not in the business of bringing down other Arab regimes. Perhaps that sentiment has changed--Khaddam appeared on a station that represents Saudi interests in Lebanon.

Khaddam spent much of his TV time talking about the ongoing U.N. investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafiq al-Hariri. Whether Khaddam's report is accurate or not, the leader of what is effectively the Damascus government-in-exile says that the top regime people are all implicated, including the president.

The Hezbollah-Iran-Syria axis has had a much tougher month than most people have been willing to let on.

Hizballah and Hamas and the Baath Party and the Iranian mullahs are all worse off now than before the recent war. Nevertheless they remain formidable foes - maybe even a little more dangerous than before because they are more cornered than before.

They wll remain a threat until they are utterly defeated. Faster please!