Hezbollah's Take Over of Beirut is to Change American View of Lebanon

Hezbollah’s action in Lebanon over the past week, was Bashar Assad's message to the US that only Syria in Lebanon can restrain Hezbollah. The Syrians know that this is the view adhered by Israel and wants the US to also take that view. Syria knew that Bush would be in Israel while Israel celebrated its 60th year anniversary .Its no secret that the Syrians and Israelis have been holding peace talks in recent days. During these talks the Lebanon dossier has been discussed and of course Syria wants to strengthen its influence there. Israel does not have a problem with that. The US is the major stumbling block in that regard. Bush's policy is to try to keep Syria out of Lebanon. There is a possibility that the US is trying to stop the peace talks. Its prolly not a coincidence that the peace talks were going on when the Bush admininstration showed evidence that Syria was trying to build a nuclear weapons facility that was bombed by the Israelis. Since the operation was conducted by the Israelis it was strange that they were not a part of this presentation. According to Stratfor, the Israelis did not want the Bush Administration to present anything that would embarrass Syria. Assad probably thought it was time to ratchet it up pressure against the Pro-Western government in Lebanon and show that Hezbollah is the boss of Lebanon.