| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||
| Syria says U.N. investigators cannot meet Assad | ||
| 2006-01-13 | ||
 United Nations investigators probing the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri cannot meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah said on Thursday.
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| Terror Networks & Islam |
| Amir Taheri : IRAN'S NEW ANTI-ISRAEL 'RAGE' |
| 2005-10-28 |
| by Amir Taheri New York Post THE new president of the Islamic Republic, Mah moud Ahmadinejad, has radically changed a key aspect of Iran's regional policy by committing his administration to the destruction of Israel. In a speech Wednesday, Ahmadinejad described Israel as "a stain of shame that has sullied the purity of Islam," and promised that it would be "cleansed very soon." All nations that establish ties with Israel, he warned, would burn "in the fires of our Islamic rage." Ahmadinejad was not simply carried away by his rhetoric: He was inaugurating "A World Without Zionism" â a week of special events in thousands of mosques, schools, factories, offices and public squares, dedicated to mobilizing popular energies against the Jewish state. Smaller versions of the exercise took place in Syria and Lebanon, countries where Iran exerts much political influence â and, more surprisingly, in Afghanistan, where a group of newly-elected members of Parliament joined the Iranian ambassador in a special "Death to Israel" ceremony. Syrian Information Minister Mahdi Dakhl-Allah and Yasser Hurryiah, a leader of the Syrian Ba'ath Party, spoke at an Iranian-sponsored event and endorsed Tehran's new tough line on Israel. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, head of the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah movement, reflected Tehran's new policy in a message of his own in which, for the first time, he called for the liberation of "the whole of Palestine." For the next week or so, special registers will remain open in thousands of schools across Iran to enable "volunteers for martyrdom" to put down their names for the coming "Holy War." The Iranian branch of Hezbollah claims it has enrolled 11,300 would-be suicide-martyrs for operations against the United States and its allies, especially Israel and Britain. Hostility to Israel has been a key ingredient of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy since its inception in 1979. But the late Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini was always careful not to promise anything on Israel that he couldn't deliver. And while his regime could make life difficult for the Jewish state (largely by recruiting, training, arming and financing Lebanese and Palestinian guerrillas), total destruction required the full participation of Israel's Arab neighbors, especially Egypt and Syria. Khomeini's anti-Israeli stance was largely opportunistic â a means of wooing the Arabs who, being mostly Sunnis, regarded the ayatollah's Shiite revolution with suspicion. He also knew that Israel's presence represented a kind of insurance for Iran's own security. For, had Israel not been there to become the focus of Arab rage, Iran might have gotten that role. After all, many Arab dictators, including Iraq's Saddam Hussein, often spoke of dismembering Iran and "liberating" the Iranian province of Khuzestan (which they dubbed "Arabistan"). In the 1980s, Saddam's eight-year-long war against Iran (with the support of all Arab states except Syria and Lebanon) helped further tone down the new regime's hostility toward Israel. And when it was revealed that Israel had been shipping urgently needed anti-tank missiles to Iran to stop Iraqi armored attacks in 1985-86, many in Tehran wondered whether Iran and Israel did not, after all, face the same enemies. But with the war's end in 1988, the mullahs reverted to their original anti-Israel posture. For years, the Islamic Republic waged a proxy war against Israel via the Lebanese Hezbollah and several Tehran-financed radical Palestinian groups, including Islamic Jihad. Yet Ahmadinejad has gone several steps further â presenting the destruction of Israel as a major goal of his government. Why? One reason may be his desire to distance himself as far as possible from his predecessor, Muhammad Khatami, and from Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful mullah-cum-businessman who still heads a key faction within the regime. Ahmadinejad has criticized the "softness" of Khatami and his mentor Rafsanjani, which led to "a decline in revolutionary spirit." Thus the new stand on Israel may be part of a package of measures to revive the regime's original radical message. Another reason may be Ahmadinejad's belief that Israel is preparing to attack Iran's nuclear sites as part of a broader U.S. plan against the Islamic Republic. He may thus be trying to mobilize Iranian and Arab public opinion for the coming showdown. But the real reason for Ahmadinejad's Jihadist outburst may well be his deep conviction that it is the historic mission of the Islamic Republic to lead the Muslim world in a "war of civilization" against the West led by the United States. One of the first battlegrounds of such a war would be Israel. Since his election in June, Ahmadinejad and his "strategic advisers" have used a bellicose terminology as part of their program to put Iran on a war footing. In the past few weeks, the regime has been massively militarized with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmadinejad's main power-base, seizing control of almost all levers of power. According to Gen. Salehi, one of Ahmadinejad's military advisers, a clash between the Islamic Republic and the United States has become inevitable. "We must be prepared," Salehi says. "The Americans will run away, leaving their illegitimate child [i.e., Israel] behind. And then Muslims would know what to do." The war talk has given the Iranian economy the jitters, prompting the biggest crash ever of the Tehran Stock Exchange. Remarkably, the new foreign policy aimed at provoking war with Israel and America has never been properly debated in the parliament, or even within the Cabinet. Some of Iran's senior diplomats, speaking anonymously, say they, too, have not been consulted. Iranian author Amir Taheri is a member of Benador Associates. |
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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US links Syria to Hariri killing |
| 2005-02-16 |
| The Bush administration recalled its ambassador to Syria on Tuesday to protest what it sees as Syria's link to the murder of the former prime minister of Lebanon, as violent anti-Syrian protests erupted in Beirut and several other Lebanese cities. At the United Nations, the administration also demanded that Syria withdraw its troops from Lebanon, and the Security Council called for an urgent investigation into the killing of the former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, who died Monday with 13 others when a huge car bomb blew up his motorcade in downtown Beirut. Investigators in Lebanon said they had come to no conclusion yet as to who carried out the attack. But Lebanese opposition leaders joined with the Bush administration in linking Syria to the bombing. Mr. Hariri, a billionaire developer, was the central figure in the country's rebuilding after a devastating 15-year civil war that ended in 1990, and his death aroused fears that the country could descend again into unrest. In Beirut, large crowds went to the site of the explosion, which investigators said appeared to be the work of a suicide attacker who managed to drive in between cars of Mr. Hariri's motorcade. Another theory was that the bomb had been placed in a sewer or under the pavement. Though there were some in Lebanon who argued that the murder might have been engineered by Al Qaeda, presumably to punish Mr. Hariri for his ties to Saudi Arabia, demonstrators mobilized throughout the country to blame Syria. In Damascus, Syrian officials continued to vigorously deny involvement in the explosion. In Sidon, Mr. Hariri's hometown, Syrian workers were attacked by dozens of protesters before the police intervened, and hundreds of Lebanese marched with black banners and pictures of the slain leader. A mob also attacked a Beirut office of Syria's ruling Baath Party. Thousands of protesters also massed in the northern port city of Tripoli, according to Reuters. Many analysts in Lebanon said Syria had reason to punish Mr. Hariri because he had been the leader in trying to block a new term for President Ãmile Lahoud, a Maronite Christian who is an ally of Syria. Failing that effort, which had the backing of the United States and France, Mr. Hariri supported a resolution at the United Nations Security Council last year also pushed by Washington and Paris demanding that Syria withdraw its 14,000 troops. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other American officials said the suspected Syrian complicity in the bombing was the latest in a series of hostile acts, including what they contend is Syria's support of the insurgency in Iraq and of groups carrying out violent attacks on civilians in Israel that are aimed at disrupting peace talks with the Palestinians. The Syrian information minister called the bombing "an act of terrorism, a crime that seeks to destabilize Lebanon." The minister, Mahdi Dakhl-Allah, also deplored the anti-Syrian violence and called on the Lebanese to "remain united and strong and continue to reject domestic strife and foreign intervention." Syria has played the dominant role in Lebanon's politics since it moved troops into the country in the 1970's. At the United Nations, meanwhile, at the behest of the United States the Security Council deplored the bombing as a threat to Lebanon's democratic process. Without assigning blame, it called on Secretary General Kofi Annan to report back to Council members on what happened. The killing of Mr. Hariri, a close ally of the United States and France, sent fears throughout the Middle East, where memories of Lebanon's civil war are fresh and concerns were sharpened that the delicate balance among Christians and Shiite and Sunni Muslims could come unhinged at a time when sectarian conflict is afflicting nearby Iraq. In recent weeks, the United States has been increasing pressure on Syria, focusing on Syria's troop presence in Lebanon and its suspected support of the Iraq insurgency and of anti-Israel violence. Ms. Rice acknowledged that the recall of Ambassador Margaret Scobey was prompted by more than Mr. Hariri's death. The removal of Ambassador Scobey, she said, "relates to, unfortunately, the fact that the relationship has been for some time not moving in a positive direction, but this event in Lebanon, of course, is the proximate cause of the withdrawal." Appearing at a meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Ms. Rice also acknowledged, however, that the identities of those who carried out the bombing attack were unknown. "We're not laying blame," she asserted. "It needs to be investigated." Since taking office last month, Ms. Rice has adopted a tough line against Syria, effectively signaling the end of what administration officials said had been a heated internal debate about whether its role in the Middle East was helpful or not to American interests. For a time last year, some American officials had argued that cooperation of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, on some issues should be rewarded, citing Syria's limited help in shutting down Syrian bases used by insurgents fighting in Iraq, and curbing the flow of money across the border that is suspected of aiding the insurgents. But in recent weeks, the United States changed its approach, in part influenced by mounting concerns in Israel over Syria's alleged help to Hezbollah and other militant organizations accused of supporting attacks on Israelis. In going after Syria, the Bush administration also appeared to be sending a tough message to Syria's ally, Iran, which Washington says is supplying the financing for the attacks on Israelis. Included in the reasons for withdrawing the American ambassador from Damascus, the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, said Tuesday, was "the continued presence and operational activities of international terrorist groups and the Iranian regime on and through Syrian territory." The decision to withdraw Ambassador Scobey was acknowledged by American officials as a symbolic step tantamount to a downgrading of diplomatic relations, because no date was announced for her return. Administration officials acknowledged that with relations at a low point for some time, few other sanctions were available. "In a way, we're almost sanctioned out on Syria," said one official. "There's not much left that we can do." In Lebanon, meanwhile, the talk of Syria's involvement was strong. "Lebanon is essential to Syria," said Adnan Arakchi, an associate of Mr. Hariri who serves in Parliament, explaining why he thought Syria sought to punish Mr. Hariri for trying to reduce its influence. "Giving Lebanon up is like putting a noose around its neck." Since the 1970's, Syria has used its troop presence in Lebanon to dominate Lebanese politics, at the time with the blessing of American and Israeli leaders. Now, however, Syria's presence is widely regarded as a destructive factor in the region even as some concede that it has added a measure of stability. Opponents of Mr. Lahoud and his Syrian backers were the quickest to blame Syria for Mr. Hariri's death. In Washington, some consideration was being given to invoking the Patriot Act, signed after the Sept. 11 attacks, which might allow the United States to act against financial transactions between American and Syrian businesses or subsidiaries. That step appeared to be held in reserve, for the time being, to give Syria more of a chance to cooperate with American demands. But some experts said an American-led confrontation with Syria, and by extension Iran, in the name of democracy and demanding removal of Syrian troops, could backfire. "Syria is low-hanging fruit compared to Iran," said Martin Indyk, a former Middle East official in the Clinton administration and now director of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution, meaning that Syria, a poor country, may be easier to pressure than oil-rich Iran. Mr. Indyk explained that the danger of getting pulled into a war in Lebanon is that it would make more difficult the pursuit of American interests in more strategic parts of the Middle East, particularly Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories. "The administration may find that what started out as a sideshow in Lebanon could become a main game," he added. "If Lebanon descends into hell, and it can, and Hezbollah starts firing into northern Israel, we may find ourselves preoccupied in a situation of questionable importance to the United States." "This regime is backed by the Syrians," said Walid Jumblatt, a Druse leader in Lebanon. "This is the regime of terrorists and terrorism that was able yesterday to wipe out Rafik al-Hariri." |
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