Lebanon's Syrian-backed Prime Minister Omar Karami, under severe pressure after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, along with his government, resigned. Was that just another diversion to lower the pressure on Syria?
The heat is on in Lebanon. Given the recent events with the assassination of a former prime minister who opposed Syrian interference in Lebanon, Syria is trying to divert international pressure away from itself and from its nearly three-decades-long military occupation of Lebanon.
Destabilizing the Palestinian-Israeli peace process would certainly divert American pressure away from Lebanon. So far, we have witnessed one such diversion in the recent suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub, an operation planned and supported by Islamic Jihad in Syria and funded by Iran. Other reports blame Syrian-Iranian-backed Hizbullah for the attack.
But whether it was Syrian Islamic Jihad or Hizbullah is really of no consequence, because all these groups point to Syria and Iran, countries that continue to grant leading terrorist organizations safe haven, logistical assistance, training facilities, political backing, weapons and explosives. This, of course, endangers the continuation of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the stability of the region. According to the Lebanese Foundation for Peace, the recent Tel Aviv suicide bombing is only the first of more terror attacks to hit Israel.
What other diversions from Syria and Iran can we expect? Perhaps the assassination of recently elected Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas? Hizbullah issued a death threat against Abbas three weeks ago. That would place more constraints on the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Another act of diversion was Syria's release of a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Number 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
Destabilizing America's plan for the Iraqi regime would also diffuse pressure from Syria. An effective way to achieve this would be to increase terror attacks in Iraq, as well. According to the Lebanese Foundation for Peace, a major Iraqi political figure, such as American-backed interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi or senior Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Sistani, might be targeted, as was Lebanon's Hariri. The US embassy in Baghdad could be bombed.
But that's not all. The use of an atomic bomb in the region is not unfeasible. Russia has just signed a nuclear fuel deal with Iran, to provide enriched uranium fuel for the next 10 years to its $800-million Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Persian Gulf coast. Iran will soon have its first reactor up and running, which means that it could potentially reprocess the spent fuel into weapons-grade plutonium to develop nuclear arms, and more specifically, 30 rudimentary atomic bombs a year (despite the condition that Iran must send back spent fuel to Russia). Why would Iran need a nuclear electricity-generating industry when it is a major producer of oil?
Another growing concern ignored by the Western world is the mounting status of Hizbullah, the Syrian-Iranian-backed terrorist organization that controls southern Lebanon. So far, Syria has been successful in diverting world attention away from the nefarious influence of its proxy militia in southern Lebanon, with its over 60,000 armed troops, 100,000 civilian supporters ready to fight, thousands of rockets, and millions of dollars spent a year on training and funding Palestinian terrorist cells to attack Israel. Hizbullah remains in the shadows for now, another major concern that should not be overlooked.
In the end, Syria's deceptive chatter of moving its 15,000 troops out of Lebanon is meaningless. Its forces remain firmly entrenched in Lebanon, despite the recent resignation of the Syrian-backed Lebanese government. Another pro-Syrian regime will likely follow. And more importantly, Hizbullah, a successful Lebanese political party that holds legitimate seats in the Lebanese parliament, will still be in control. Its goal is to establish an Islamic republic in Lebanon through the implementation of Islamic law, to remove all non-Islamic influences from the area, and to eliminate Israel (and Hizbullah resents Sunnis and Christians alike).
Only when all Syrian-Iranian-backed terrorist networks in southern Lebanon are dismantled - including the dismantling of Hizbullah's Shi'ite rival Amal, which also occupies seats in the Lebanese parliament - will Lebanon be in a better position to break free from Syria's grip and re-emerge as a new and free Lebanon.
These are all viable scenarios that can fester overnight, explode and destabilize the entire Middle East region. They must be closely scrutinized in order to prevent potential worldwide catastrophe.
The heat is on in Lebanon. Given the recent events with the assassination of a former prime minister who opposed Syrian interference in Lebanon, Syria is trying to divert international pressure away from itself and from its nearly three-decades-long military occupation of Lebanon.
Destabilizing the Palestinian-Israeli peace process would certainly divert American pressure away from Lebanon. So far, we have witnessed one such diversion in the recent suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub, an operation planned and supported by Islamic Jihad in Syria and funded by Iran. Other reports blame Syrian-Iranian-backed Hizbullah for the attack.
But whether it was Syrian Islamic Jihad or Hizbullah is really of no consequence, because all these groups point to Syria and Iran, countries that continue to grant leading terrorist organizations safe haven, logistical assistance, training facilities, political backing, weapons and explosives. This, of course, endangers the continuation of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and the stability of the region. According to the Lebanese Foundation for Peace, the recent Tel Aviv suicide bombing is only the first of more terror attacks to hit Israel.
What other diversions from Syria and Iran can we expect? Perhaps the assassination of recently elected Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas? Hizbullah issued a death threat against Abbas three weeks ago. That would place more constraints on the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Another act of diversion was Syria's release of a half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Number 36 on the list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis.
Destabilizing America's plan for the Iraqi regime would also diffuse pressure from Syria. An effective way to achieve this would be to increase terror attacks in Iraq, as well. According to the Lebanese Foundation for Peace, a major Iraqi political figure, such as American-backed interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi or senior Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Sistani, might be targeted, as was Lebanon's Hariri. The US embassy in Baghdad could be bombed.
But that's not all. The use of an atomic bomb in the region is not unfeasible. Russia has just signed a nuclear fuel deal with Iran, to provide enriched uranium fuel for the next 10 years to its $800-million Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant on the Persian Gulf coast. Iran will soon have its first reactor up and running, which means that it could potentially reprocess the spent fuel into weapons-grade plutonium to develop nuclear arms, and more specifically, 30 rudimentary atomic bombs a year (despite the condition that Iran must send back spent fuel to Russia). Why would Iran need a nuclear electricity-generating industry when it is a major producer of oil?
Another growing concern ignored by the Western world is the mounting status of Hizbullah, the Syrian-Iranian-backed terrorist organization that controls southern Lebanon. So far, Syria has been successful in diverting world attention away from the nefarious influence of its proxy militia in southern Lebanon, with its over 60,000 armed troops, 100,000 civilian supporters ready to fight, thousands of rockets, and millions of dollars spent a year on training and funding Palestinian terrorist cells to attack Israel. Hizbullah remains in the shadows for now, another major concern that should not be overlooked.
In the end, Syria's deceptive chatter of moving its 15,000 troops out of Lebanon is meaningless. Its forces remain firmly entrenched in Lebanon, despite the recent resignation of the Syrian-backed Lebanese government. Another pro-Syrian regime will likely follow. And more importantly, Hizbullah, a successful Lebanese political party that holds legitimate seats in the Lebanese parliament, will still be in control. Its goal is to establish an Islamic republic in Lebanon through the implementation of Islamic law, to remove all non-Islamic influences from the area, and to eliminate Israel (and Hizbullah resents Sunnis and Christians alike).
Only when all Syrian-Iranian-backed terrorist networks in southern Lebanon are dismantled - including the dismantling of Hizbullah's Shi'ite rival Amal, which also occupies seats in the Lebanese parliament - will Lebanon be in a better position to break free from Syria's grip and re-emerge as a new and free Lebanon.
These are all viable scenarios that can fester overnight, explode and destabilize the entire Middle East region. They must be closely scrutinized in order to prevent potential worldwide catastrophe.