Syria Flexes Its Muscles

Syria, not content to allow their Hezbollah proxies have all the fun, has declared their willingness to intervene miltarily in southern Lebanon. The Times Online reports,

CONDOLEEZZA RICE will arrive in Jerusalem today on a mission to end the intensifying conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, as Syria indicated for the first time that it was prepared to intervene.

In a sign that Syria might be feeling the pressure from its Arab neighbours, Faisal al-Meqdad, its Deputy Foreign Minister, said Damascus was willing to have direct talks with the US to resolve the conflict.

That reconciliatory tone was countered, however, by Mohsen Bilal, the country's Information Minister, who said that Syria would enter the conflict if the Israelis invaded Lebanon. "If Israel makes a land invasion of Lebanon and gets near us, Syria will not stand by with arms folded," he told the Spanish newspaper ABC. "It will enter the conflict." He added that Syria would only co-operate with peace negotiations within the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return to Syria of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.

That is exactly what Syria needs right now, a threat to aid Hezbollah in the attack of Israel. Do they not have enough on their plate? Oppressing their citizens, corrupting Lebanese politics, entrenching an authoritarian regime, and now threatening military action in their favourite stomping ground, south Lebanon. The Syrians seem intent upon rivaling Iran for status as the world's most ostracized nation. Apparently more flyovers by Israeli jets are needed to convey the message to president al-Assad...