Saturday, March 05, 2005

Air Strike on Syria?

Publius Pundit has an extensive roundup of news on Syria. Scroll down about halfway through today's post where he has the following:

The United States, through its Al-Hurra TV network, has said that the Pentagon favors an airstrike to topple Assad and free Lebanon.


He quotes this:

The Pentagon is now convinced that air strikes on Syria have become necessary to overthrow the Assad regime, liberate Lebanon and stop support of insurgents waging a guerrilla war against American forces in Iraq as well as Palestinian militants against Israel, the U.S.-sponsored Al Hurra TV network says.
“Political action to deal with the problem of Syria’s presence in Lebanon and its support of terrorism against Israel and Iraq is no longer deemed effective,” Al Hurra quoted American intelligence sources as saying, according to slain ex-Premier Hariri’s Al Mustaqbal newspaper on Friday.

“Diplomacy as a means to deal with countries supporting terrorism is over and out. The situation is now open to all eventualities as far as Syria is concerned,” the sources were quoted as saying by the Arabic-language Al Hurra.

“Resolving problems with Syria now requires changing the Syrian regime or mounting air attacks similar to those staged against Afghanistan and Sudan in August 1998 to wipe out terrorist centers once and for all,” the U.S. intelligence sources were quoted as saying.

“The U.S. central command for Iraq and Afghanistan is closely following the situation in Lebanon and Syria and senior Pentagon officials are now convinced that hitting terrorist targets in Syria is necessary,” Al Hurra said.

“The elimination of Syrian-supported terrorism groups is now deemed ’strategically vital’ for stability in the Middle east, particularly Iraq, which is unattainable at present under the current Syrian regime,” the station said.


He goes on to say:



A hit on Syria would work and force them into a situation of complete withdrawal from Lebanon. Assad would likely crumble very quickly given his already shaky grip on the country, especially if he loses the billions his secret services collect from Lebanon every year.

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