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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria 'would resist Lebanon invasion' |
| 2006-07-23 |
| A SYRIAN minister warned Israel in an interview published today that a major ground incursion into Lebanon would draw his country into the Middle East conflict. "If Israel makes a land entry into Lebanon, they can get to within 20km of Damascus," Information Minister Moshen Bilal told the Spanish newspaper ABC. "What will we do? Stand by with our arms folded? Absolutely not. Without any doubt Syria will intervene in the conflict." Mr Bilal said Syria wanted above all a ceasefire "as soon as possible" combined with a prisoner exchange and indicated he was working to that end with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, whom he met in recent days in Madrid. The new addition to the Axis Of Evil. But he added: "I repeat, if Israel makes a land invasion of Lebanon and gets near us, Syria will not stand by with arms folded. It will enter the conflict." Israel has said it wants to push Hezbollah militias 20km north of its border. Mr Bilal criticised the US saying that it was "unjustifiable" that "the superpower is not working for a rapid ceasefire." He rejected claims by Washington that Damascus has armed Hezbollah, saying that it offered "moral support" but adding that "we do not finance any resistance." Taqyia in action |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #14 I stand corrected! The Syrians have a long, proud history of failing to get a clue. :-) |
| Posted by: Spike 2006-07-23 17:30 |
| #13 #12 spike - I'd question the "just started" part of your comment. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-07-23 16:07 |
| #12 Sounds like Syria has just started its own Axis: the Axis of Stupid. |
| Posted by: Spike 2006-07-23 15:58 |
| #11 Bring it on, Syrian pussies. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-07-23 15:55 |
| #10 Syria says they will attack if Israel "gets near us". If they really wanted to fight, they could have joined in already. Possibly this is a warning to stay away from Bekaa valley? |
| Posted by: Oldcat 2006-07-23 15:18 |
| #9 Begin moving our troops in Iraq west. Make Syria wonder. Would'nt even have to do anything. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-07-23 12:41 |
| #8 What we want is a lasting peace That's the rub, isn't it. There can be no peace with muslims, ever. Dar-al-Harb and all that. If any civilization on islam's border wants to survive, then it has to push back the border, because islam will always expand their borders by any and all methods. |
| Posted by: ed 2006-07-23 10:19 |
| #7 Well, judging from the Debka take, the Syrians are raring to go, given the slightest provocation, just plain paranoia, or any opportunity at all to attack Israel in Lebanon that they think can inflict a lot of casualties and to some extent get away with. Well, that being said, I think Israel should make clear to Syria that if Syria *does* fight them, for any reason, Israel will have a two-fold strategy: 1) Of course, attack the Syrian military, but also, 2) Destroy as much as they can of everything owned by the Alawite tribe, the minority Shiites that rule over the majority of Syrian Sunnis. This would accomplish two goals. The first is to change the balance of power in Syria. (As a weird factoid, the Alawites make up only about 10% of the population of Syria, which is just slightly more than the percentage of the population that is Christian(!) See factbook Syria for info.) The second goal, is to let all of the Sunni nations know that Israel might take Syria out of Shiite hands and make it a Sunni country. They have been long fretting that Iraq has been "converted" from a Sunni to a Shiite country. Imagine their glee at the prospect of the reverse happening in Syria. This would probably mean that they would give Syria zero support, and might even subtley support Israel by clamping down on Paleo mischief for a time, thus taking some of the heat off. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-07-23 10:17 |
| #6 What makes anyone think we even want a ceasefire??? What we want is a lasting peace so this cycle of crap does not fire back up in three years. The only option for peace is to destroy Hezbullah and their masters, Tony (UK)'s option. Ceasefires will only work between governments, not terrorists, and only until one has the strength to overrun the other and then the fighting will resume. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-07-23 09:41 |
| #5 "If Israel makes a land entry into Lebanon, they can get to within 20km of Damascus," Information Minister Moshen Bilal told the Spanish newspaper ABC." So Israel is right to push back the terrorist. Thanks |
| Posted by: plainslow 2006-07-23 09:38 |
| #4 "Mr Bilal criticised the US saying that it was "unjustifiable" that "the superpower is not working for a rapid ceasefire." There are at least two ways to get a ceasefire Mr Bilal; 1) Both sides agree to put aside weapons and stop the fighting. This is what has traditionally been attempted in the Middle East... 2) One side inflicts so much damage on the other side that there is (a) no other side left, (b) what is left of the other side unconditionally surrenders. Israel has tried option (1) many times in the past and been rewarded with homicide bombers and missiles falling indiscriminantly from the skies. Are you sure you want 'the superpower' to work for a rapid ceasefire? They may insist the Israelis choose option (2)... |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-07-23 08:47 |
| #3 "Mr Bilal criticised the US saying that it was "unjustifiable" that "the superpower is not working for a rapid ceasefire." We are waiting on you to jump so we have our excuse to take out your boy Iran. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2006-07-23 08:40 |
| #2 I disagree that Spain is a member of the axis of Evil. Axis of Useless, yes. Axis of Self-delusion, certainly. But not the Axis of Evil. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2006-07-23 08:20 |
| #1 "But he added: "I repeat, if Israel makes a land invasion of Lebanon and gets near us, Syria will not stand by with arms folded." I know, I believe you. YouÂ’ll stand with your arms up, instead. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2006-07-23 08:09 |