For Israel

Anxious Times in Lebanon - the Syrian Presence

"....The 14,000 Syrians referred to are the ones in uniform. But there are more than 100,000 OTHER Syrians in Lebanon, contributing to the occupation in ways both legal and illegal.Some are simply working at jobs that don't exist at home. Lebanon has a productive, free-market economy and Syria has a leftover 1960s militaristic socialism that sucks the economy dry – particularly now that the coalition has cut off the illegal oil that was flowing through Syria from Iraq. Syria needs that safety valve of sending workers outside the country to help ensure domestic tranquility. Some of the Syrians are related to the drug and counterfeiting trades in the Bekka Valley that provide hard currency earnings to Damascus. Some are intelligence officers and plainclothes security forces, the undercover eyes and ears of the Syrians and liaison for the Iranians and their Hizballah protégé troops in Lebanon....."

As usual, the headlines in Debka are worth following -

posted by ninelives @ 6:34 AM