U.S. Seen on Collision Course with Syria over Lebanon Next Month
Naharnet
The U.S. and Syria are moving fast toward a showdown early in 2005 over the failure of the Assad regime to give back Lebanon's sovereignty within the framework of U.N. resolution 1559 and failure to upgrade cooperation with Washington and Baghdad to stop the flow of men and money across the Syrian border to help Iraq's insurgents, An Nahar reported Monday.
A page-one dispatch from An Nahar's Washington correspondent Hisham Milhem quoted responsible U.S. sources as saying the Bush administration was convinced Syria's defiant stance would not change quickly enough to avert wider economic sanctions that would be inescapable for the American president.
"The administration will wait for the new session of Congress in January so that some Congress members would propose new initiatives in this regard" within the context of the Syria Accountability an Restoration of Lebanon's Sovereignty Act that was passed in 2003, Milhem reported.
The sources, he wrote, have confirmed that Washington would raise the question of resolution 1559 during the debate late in January over Lebanon's request to extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL in south Lebanon for six extra months as of Feb. 1.
The Bush administration will also raise the case when U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan submits his first biannual report to the Security Council on the progress of enforcing resolution 1559 in April. "The U.S. is bent on cooperating with France to bring added pressure to bear on Damascus to implement the resolution," Milhem added.
The U.S. has for the first time expressed disenchantment with the Lebanese authorities for the way with which the extension of President Lahoud's term was extended in an open defiance by these authorities of resolution 1559. "The extension wouldn't have been so forcefully done had it not been backed by the support of Lebanese political forces," An Nahar reported.
"Gone are the days of previous contentions, even by American circles sympathetic to Lebanon, that the official authority in Beirut is overpowered and helpless. This alibi is outdated and no longer convincing," Milhem wrote.
A page-one dispatch from An Nahar's Washington correspondent Hisham Milhem quoted responsible U.S. sources as saying the Bush administration was convinced Syria's defiant stance would not change quickly enough to avert wider economic sanctions that would be inescapable for the American president.
"The administration will wait for the new session of Congress in January so that some Congress members would propose new initiatives in this regard" within the context of the Syria Accountability an Restoration of Lebanon's Sovereignty Act that was passed in 2003, Milhem reported.
The sources, he wrote, have confirmed that Washington would raise the question of resolution 1559 during the debate late in January over Lebanon's request to extend the mandate of the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL in south Lebanon for six extra months as of Feb. 1.
The Bush administration will also raise the case when U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan submits his first biannual report to the Security Council on the progress of enforcing resolution 1559 in April. "The U.S. is bent on cooperating with France to bring added pressure to bear on Damascus to implement the resolution," Milhem added.
The U.S. has for the first time expressed disenchantment with the Lebanese authorities for the way with which the extension of President Lahoud's term was extended in an open defiance by these authorities of resolution 1559. "The extension wouldn't have been so forcefully done had it not been backed by the support of Lebanese political forces," An Nahar reported.
"Gone are the days of previous contentions, even by American circles sympathetic to Lebanon, that the official authority in Beirut is overpowered and helpless. This alibi is outdated and no longer convincing," Milhem wrote.
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