Washington rediscovers Lebanon

Via "friday-lunch-club"

"... in the last few days and weeks, something happened. Amid warnings that Lebanon could soon face another civil war, or perhaps a coup d'état by Hezbollah, a worried Washington rediscovered the country. After all, a bad turn of events there could easily derail Washington's other plans.

Suddenly, the State Department has become intensely preoccupied with Lebanon. America's Lebanese allies, who for a time seemed secondary in the U.S. strategic vision for the region, are receiving phone calls from top administration officials, complete with reassurances of undying loyalty. The public show of support for America's friends in Beirut has been backed up with thinly veiled threats against their Hezbollah rivals, delivered via the Lebanese press to ensure the intended audience gets the message. It is a striking turn of events after months of acting as if Lebanon mattered little.

The last time the White House looked closely at Lebanon, things seemed to be going well for its friends there.........

The wake-up call for Washington came with two loud rings. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's triumphant visit to Lebanon last month highlighted just how widely Hezbollah -- and Iran -- have extended their dominance. This should hardly have come as a surprise, especially after Hariri's humiliating reconciliation with Syria, the country he had up to then accused of murdering his father. Syria, Iran and Hezbollah make up the three-sided bloc against whose influence Hariri had built his once-powerful March 14 movement.

The other wake-up call had to do with the investigation into the assassination of Hariri's father, an investigation that now hangs as an ominous cloud over Hezbollah and Lebanon.....

In the most recent of many blunt threats, Nasrallah declared that Hezbollah will "cut off the hand" of anyone who goes after its members. He has maintained that the STL is a tool of Israel and the U.S., and warned that, "Whoever thinks the resistance could possibly accept any accusation against any of its jihadists or leaders is mistaken....

With that in mind, Washington has turned its attention sharply back to Lebanon.....
Clinton also admitted that the policy of re-engagement with Damascus, which has caused consternation among many Lebanese, has essentially failed, saying that, "Syria's behavior has not met our hopes and expectations over the past 20 months." Washington had hoped to entice Damascus to distance itself from Tehran and to stop supporting groups labeled terrorist organizations by the U.S. Instead, the rapprochement served only to strengthen Syria,....
The major players in the Middle East -- such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Israel -- never stopped paying close attention to Lebanon. Now, hoping it is not too late, Washington, too, has found that it should have kept its eyes more sharply trained on that tiny, troubled, and potentially explosive state...."

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