"Israel is indeed planting the seeds of war in the region, I would tell them stop playing the role of thugs in the Middle East. . . . Don't test, you Israelis, the determination of Syria. You know that war this time would move to your cities. . . . No doubt, if we assume that this war would erupt - and we should not exclude this possibility from an entity established on expansion - I would say it is going to be a comprehensive war, whether it starts in the south of Lebanon or from Syria."
Spain's Moratinos had the presence of mind to interject:
"I came in from Israel after meetings with most senior officials there, and I would tell you that I heard no drums of war, rather I felt a desire for peace."
Can you imagine the international uproar if Israel's foreign minister were to threaten Syrian cities with devastation? If this were to happen, his remarks would make headlines throughout the world; however, when Israeli civilians are being threatened, there is worse than a deafening silence.
Why worse than a deafening silence? Because the U.S., pursuant to the Obama Doctrine of reaching out in friendship to heretofore "misunderstood" tyrannies, continues to seek rapprochement with Syria. At this same press conference, Syrian Foreign Minister Mouallem said:
"The United States has nominated an ambassador. This is an American sovereign issue and it is Syria's right to study the nomination."
The U.S. recalled its ambassador from Damascus after the February 2005 Syrian assassination in Beirut of former pro-Western Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri. Following Hariri's murder, there was a string of "mysterious" killings involving Lebanese civilians opposed to Syria's presence in Lebanon: Samir Kassir, a journalist, died from a car bomb; George Hawi, former secretary general of the Lebanese Communist Party, was assassinated by a car bomb; and Jubran Tweini, the editor of al-Nahar, was also murdered. May Shidiaq, who worked for the Lebanese Broadcasting Company and condemned Syrian intervention in Lebanon, escaped assassination, but she was critically wounded.
Obama is sending the message to Syria that all is forgiven, all is forgotten. Damascus, however, is unexpectedly (at least in the eyes of Obama's foreign relations advisers, who are clueless about the Middle East mindset) playing hard to get, as it continues to train Hezbollah on modern, Russian-made antiaircraft systems (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3838871,00.html). It is widely recognized that introduction of these antiaircraft systems into Lebanon by Hezbollah is a red line for Israel, which cannot be crossed.
Hi, Jeffrey!
ReplyDeleteDo you think, Syria has reasons to provoke the war? They do not have chances to gain anything, do they? How important are those threats?
One possible explanation, why public does not pay attention to their threats: nobody expects them to behave as civilized people.
Does Syria have a reason to provoke a war? I can only answer with another question: How crazy is Bashar al-Assad?
ReplyDeleteIf Iran decides to alleviate the pressure on its streets by heightening tensions with Israel, will Syria participate with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas in a future war that would devastate Syria? Syria has nothing to gain, but they might also be foolish enough to decide that they have nothing to lose.
No one expects Syria to behave in a civilized fashion? It would appear that Obama still believes that by "making nice" to them, he can tame them.
Why Syria has an alliance with Iran? Among other reasons:
ReplyDelete- Assad is an Alawite, and the Alawites consider themselves Shiites.
- Hezbollah serves both the interests of Iran (Middle East hegemony) and Syria (Lebanon is considered part of "Greater Syria" by the Syrians).
- Alienation of Syria within the Arab world.
- Syrian access to Iranian weaponry.
I would only note that in the past when Israel "neared" agreement with Fatah, Syria seemed more inclined to negotiate with Israel in order to derail the Fatah discussions.