Syria, at home no more in Lebanon?
Syria, after years of both direct and indirect control of their tiny neighbor, may soon be forced to leave Lebanon. Not because the U.N. tells them to, mind you, it will be because their Arab neighbors are telling them to.
Why would Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, all want Syria out of Lebanon?
The answer is obvious, U.S. pressure to make it so. Syria has been the de facto power in Lebanon, along with Hezbollah in the southern portions of Lebanon, for many years, maintaining a military presence of 20,000 and recently pressuring the Lebanese parliament to alter their constitution to permit Syrian back President Emile Lahoud to serve for another four years.
Now that U.S. pressure is on to have Syria pull out of Lebanon and end their support of both Hamas and Hezbollah, the surrounding Arab nations have decided to chime in with their agreement.
Syria, resistant still, claims they will not leave and that their forces are necessary to prevent Israeli aggression.
The remaining question to ask is whether or not the Gulf nations are acting out of deference to the U.S., as I would argue, or whether they are acting to limit the power of Hezbollah and Hamas in Lebanon and Syria, as Iran becomes more belligerent and raises the likelihood of a larger multinational conflict in the region.
For the latest on Syria, the Blogs of War has a new "Hot Spots" section (although I'm not sure the link to Shi'a apologist Juan Cole fits) .
UPDATE: Syria was not told to leave Lebanon by their neighbors... more here.
