Lebanon comes full circle back to the Syrian fold

[Chris]

Lebanon comes full circle back to the Syrian fold
By Zvi Bar'el
Assad's old fear that Lebanon might make separate peace with Israel is all but gone.

We could not have guessed which would be the first country to make peace with Israel, but we always knew which country would be second: Lebanon. Meanwhile, Egypt signed an agreement, Jordan followed and Palestine signed a deal that collapsed, but either it or Syria will be next. Lebanon was pushed to the bottom of the list. Whoever doubts this can pull out of the archives the clear-cut statement made by the previous Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora. The man who conducted a bitter duel with Hezbollah, and whose power diminished as a result of the Second Lebanon War, made it very clear that "Lebanon will be the last country that will sign a peace agreement with Israel."

Today, as it marks the fifth anniversary of the murder of prime minister Rafik Hariri, Lebanon comes full circle back into the Syrian fold. In 2005, Lebanese public opinion was what pushed the Syrian troops out of Lebanon. Lebanese politicians and pundits swore then that Syria would never again set foot on Lebanese soil, and Hezbollah faced a terrible dilemma between loyalty to the Lebanese motherland and dependency on Syria. But the Lebanese "order" was restored. The current prime minister, Saad Hariri, the victim's son, has already paid Damascus a visit, embraced Bashar Assad, and Lebanese politics continue to be dictated by Syria and Iran.
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This is not some theoretical analysis about developments in a faraway country. Lebanon's southern border poses the most permanent and serious threat to Israel, and peace with Syria is mostly driven by the hope that Damascus will neutralize, on our behalf, this Lebanese threat. A withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for Hezbollah - this is how Israel puts it. We wanted a new order in Lebanon and we got it. If our ambition used to be to sign a peace agreement with Lebanon in order to counter the Syrian threat - now the order has been reversed. Syria is necessary in order to check the Hezbollah missile threat.

more...............Lebanon comes full circle back to the Syrian fold - Haaretz - Israel News

[readytogo]

Lebanon's southern border poses the most permanent and serious threat to Israel, and peace with Syria is mostly driven by the hope that Damascus will neutralize, on our behalf, this Lebanese threat. A withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for Hezbollah - this is how Israel puts it. We wanted a new order in Lebanon and we got it. If our ambition used to be to sign a peace agreement with Lebanon in order to counter the Syrian threat - now the order has been reversed. Syria is necessary in order to check the Hezbollah missile threat.

It's sad that this is where there hope is...

[Robert]

Once again, Israel has put her trust in idols; but this time, rather than the wood and stone idols of her kingdom era, or the idolatry of following the law during her post-exodus existence until her demise at the hands of the roman armies, the post-diaspora Israel has instead taken to the adultery of looking to other lands for her protection by making deals and treaties with them, instead of placing her faith in Yahweh to protect her.

[Keith]

Its not suprising Lebanon comes back to the fold. We already know Syria, Iran and Lebanon may as well all be the same country, they are all in the same bed together.