Drumbeats of War - Martial Marriage Between Lebanon and Syria
The previous post mentioned that Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri was suddenly scheduled for an quick trip to Syria this week.
He lost no time in going.
Before sunrise on Sunday, the first day of the Muslim week, Hariri was being feasted by Syrian Prime Minister Assad.
Is that quick, or what?
Both men observe Ramadan, the month in which Muslims fast. But it is a very specific kind of religious fast. No eating during daylight hours. But they are allowed to have a big meal before dawn, and a big meal after sunset.
Assad hosted a predawn suhoor, which is what that meal is called, in honor of the visiting head of the Lebanese state. Then they met throughout the day and apparently a portion of Monday. Afterward Hariri returned to Lebanon for a series of meetings with his ministers and military people.
He came back with more than whatever might have been on his ‘wish list’ of weaponry from Iran through Syria.
According Lebanese news media… and echoed in Israeli and Iranian and Kuwaiti news sources, attesting to the great importance of the news… Syria and Lebanese Hizballah have created a single headquarters for all forces under their jurisdiction.
The joint command will coordinate warfare for the two nations on land, sea and in the air. This includes control of missile defense in both countries. It also includes ’strategies for attacks on Israel’, and ‘defense of Lebanon in the event of an Israeli aggression’. Note the order of the last two items.
No one is flat out saying that this melding of Syria and Lebanese Hizballah was a direct result of the talks between Assad and Hariri. There is only innuendo. But I think it is pretty clear that is what happened. At the least, Hariri consented to the marital marriage of the two countries.
There has been no clear announcement how this affects the Lebanese Regular Army. There is still discussion on the degree of integration of Hizballah and the LRA between the disparate leaders of Lebanon. But I get the feeling the enfolding of the two is very close, after Hariri’s trip to Syria.
Unless something happens to change things, it appears Israel will have a hostile and prepared united front in the north, against both the IDF and people of Israel.
You might throw Turkey into that mix, because of the Turkish government’s recent policy, enforced on several occasions already, that no Israel warplanes may enter their airspace.
In similar news, Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s chief advisor Mashaee assured the King of Kuwait that there will be no war soon. War talk is only silly Israeli propaganda. But if there is war, Kuwait better not let the US use their bases or Airspace for a preemptive attack on Iran, or Kuwait would be considered a legitimate target by Iran. Sounds to me like Mashaee is actually pretty worried about the war talk.
But not the UNFIL commander of UN forces in Lebanon. Commanding General Asarta is not worried the slightest little bit. He stated today that, “I’m almost absolutely sure there is no war” between Lebanon and Israel.
I won’t allow myself to comment on that.
Like a bolt out of the blue, Vice President Biden showed up in Baghdad today without warning. Ostensibly, he is there to mark the transition of military power in Iraq from US forces to internal forces. Obviously, he is there also because of the very dicy situation in Iraq, where sectarian violence, murder and general mayhem is breaking out as the US combat forces retire
… to Kuwait.
