Toppling Damascus and Tehran.

Submitted by Charles Smyth (United Kingdom), Aug 5, 2006 at 11:28

Any international force installed to keep the peace in Lebanon is doomed to failure because to have any meaningful effect on Hezbollah would require it to do the same as the Israelis are already doing, which is unlikely.

Attacking Syria would make better sense for the Israelis, but it has to be remembered that the Israeli ground forces--many of them freshly conscripted--need the practical experience in Lebanon to be prepared for whatever the Syrians can throw at them, since many of the Syrian commanders are involved in the Iraqi insurgency. Iran and Syria know they couldn't win a conventional war and have seen how successful suicide bombers and contemporary guerilla tactics have been in Iraq.

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