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Europeans reach out to Hezbollah's backers in bid to end crisis
BRUSSELS - European governments are reaching out to Hezbollah's foreign backers, Iran and Syria, in an attempt to engage them in a solution to the Lebanon war by recognizing their importance for regional stability. While the United States, Israel's main backer, is unwilling to talk at a senior level to either country - seen as "rogue states" in Washington - European foreign ministers have no such taboo if dialogue can help extinguish fires in the Middle East.

“There can be no effective solution without Syria," Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said...”
But beyond making Syrian and Iranian leaders feel respected, it is not clear what the Europeans can offer to persuade Damascus or Tehran to lean on Hezbollah guerrillas to stop firing missiles into Israel or accept eventual disarmament. "There can be no effective solution without Syria," Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said after European Union ministers held emergency talks on the crisis Monday.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, a former EU Middle East peace envoy, was due to visit Damascus after talks in Beirut with Lebanese leaders, diplomats said.
Posted by: Fred 2006-08-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=161731