Syrias Discussion?

The conflict in the Middle East is in day 13 and Hezbollah is fighting fiercely but losing a lot of weapons and a lot of infrastructure. The Israelis have lost about one tenth the number of people Lebanon has. Unfortunately, Lebanon is taking quite a beating with billions of dollars in damage and a lot of money from the tourism business now gone. The Iranians and the Syrians had their bloody little hands in this mess and they are the ones who pulled Hezbollah’s strings to get them to attack Israel.

It would appear that these two terrorist nations have miscalculated the Israeli response to the acts. Israel gave a warning and when they did not get their soldiers back they launched an all out offensive. It would seem to me that Hezbollah might have had an idea that this would happen because of the mess with Hamas just weeks prior. Instead, the puppets of Hezbolla followed the orders of Iran and they sneaked into Israel and committed an act of war. Iran thought that any response by Israel would draw the US in and would unite the Arab world. It is an understatement to say that Iran was grossly wrong. The US has only provided resupply to Israel. And, of course, we did not condemn them and demand they stop defending themselves. Most of the neighboring countries have placed the blame on Hezbollah and they want Iran and Syria to call off the dogs, so to speak.

Now, Syria is sending some conflicting messages. On one hand they stated that if Israel launches a significant ground assault they will enter the fray. On the other hand they stated that they think there should be a cease fire and that all sides should negotiate. There is no confirmation of this but the news has been reporting that Syria is open to negotiations the latest indication was that they must include a prisoner exchange. That will not happen. However, many Arab nations are a bit on edge and want an end to this so there might be some back alley drug deals to get things moving.

I find it hard to believe that Iran and Syria would want to discuss anything given the dishonor they would face if they admitted defeat to Israel. Anything they do will be seen as a defeat because they did not eliminate that nation. In addition, it is unlikely that a man who said that Israel should be wiped off the map and that they are doomed to destruction would be open to any discussion short of discussions that actually wiped Israel off the map. Lebanon is probably the only nation that actually wants discussions.

This will drag on for a while. Condi Rice is in the region but she has indicated that any cease fire would need to involve eliminating the circumstances that caused this in the first place. In other words, get rid of Hezbollah. I believe that this process will be long and drawn out. Israel is determined not to stop until the threat is eliminated and without some assurance that another body can do that, they will continue.

As for a peace keeping force. It should come with provisions. I am worried that the peacekeepers will be between Hezbollah and Israel and Hezbollah will launch rockets into Israel and know that Israel can not respond without putting peacekeepers in danger. The provision should be that if Hezbollah launches anything the peacekeepers are going to evacuate to Israel and let the Israelis level the place.

I will say one thing though. Israel seems to be smarter than the rest of us. They have learned that the UN is worthless and that they can not be trusted. Israel said that any peacekeeping force would need to be a NATO force, not a UN force. They have learned.

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One Response to “Syrias Discussion?”

  1. The Lebanon War Enters the Talking Phase…

    We are now in the talking phase of the Lebanon War. People nowadays have great faith in the talking phase, the idea being that since war is senseless, all you have to do is get people talking to each other……