What's Syria up to?
I almost missed this:
The Syrian government has knowledge about the presence of al Qaeda cells in Lebanon and Syria and is prepared to share it with the United States, Sky News reported July 23, citing Syrian Cabinet minister Amr Salem. Such al Qaeda cells have grown since Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon, he said. Salem added that Syria is also prepared to mediate discussions on Iraq between the United States and Iran.
Besides our old friend Amr Salem just wanting to get his name in the news, why would Syria tattle on al Qaeda?
Option 1: This is just table stakes to get to a bargaining table. Iran and Syria have been clamoring that they need to be part of the solution (after all they are part of the problem; if they can be part of the solution, maybe we'll forget that inconvenient fact). Hurting al Qaeda probably doesn't matter to to Syria, especially if it preserves their catspaw, Hizb'allah.
Option 2: We've already seen that Iran is sending suicide bombers to Lebanon. What if this is designed to push al Qaeda against a wall, and force their hand? Increased violence in Lebanon plays into what Syria thinks is their long term winning strategy.
Option 3: Syria wants to reduce the amount of terrorism in the world. Nah.
Comments
Alqaida and the Iran issue was never discussed with me by Sky-News or any other source.
This was completely fabricated
Posted by: Amr Salem | August 4, 2006 02:14 AM
Thank you for clarifying that, Mr. Salem.
For any other readers, I'll note that the comment above was posted from an IP address located in Damascus; I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the poster that he is, in fact, Amr Salem.
Posted by: Andy![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.cozikin.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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August 4, 2006 07:59 AM