US claims Syria and Iran planning Lebanon coup

The US has accused Syria and Iran of trying to bring down the Lebanese government and has warned the two countries to keep their "hands off".

The US has not revealed the "evidence" on which it's claim it's made.

What's slightly surreal here is watching the US, the same country who refused to call for a ceasefire whilst Israel pummelled Lebanon into the ground, cast themselves in the role of Lebanon's "friend" whilst castigating Iran and Syria, the two countries that it hoped Israel's pummelling of Lebanon would draw into a wider regional conflict.

"Support for a sovereign, democratic, and prosperous Lebanon is a key element of US policy in the Middle East," said Mr Snow.

How can Tony Snow even say those words with a straight face? We saw the damage that the US allowed Israel to inflict on that country over the summer, how can Snow now hope that we will have conveniently forgotten this and see the US as having only Lebanon's best interests at heart?

The White House made its claims ­ for which Mr Snow said he was unable to provide supporting evidence as it was classified ­ a day after the Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Mr Siniora's ruling coalition that it had until the middle of this month to agree on forming a unity government. Hizbollah said if no such agreement were reached there would be protests demanding new elections.

Poor Lebanon, she always seems to be the host nation for other people's wars.

Last night the Syrian embassy in Washington also denied Mr Snow's claims, describing them as ludicrous and unfounded. In a statement it said: " What is happening in Lebanon is a purely domestic political issue. Syria fully respects the sovereignty of Lebanon and does not interfere in its internal politics. Therefore, we call on the US to follow suit and stop instigating the Lebanese people against each other and against other countries."

This all comes on the back of John Bolton's recent claims at the UN that Syria and Iran are helping to rearm Hizbullah and is a further sign of Washington's continual interference in the country.

In the middle of all this diplomatic back stabbing Tony Blair chose yesterday to send his senior envoy, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, to meet the Syrian president in Damascus. The timing was strange to say the least.

The reaction from Israel and the US was drearily predictable.

Shimon Peres, Israel's deputy prime minister, said in London: "I wouldn't like to make any remarks about British movements [but] I'm sceptical, not because of Britain but because of the Syrians."

This is a further part of the remarkable dance that goes on in the Middle East where the Israelis must always be portrayed as looking for peace, whilst actual peace - since it involves handing back land seized in 1967 - must always prove tragically just out of reach.

Mr Peres said yesterday that Israel, which is still technically at war with Syria, would like to negotiate with Mr Assad but not while he supported Hamas and Hizbullah and while he demanded the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel during the 1967 war, as a pre-condition for talks.

You'll have noticed the way this game is played. Israel, who "would like to negotiate", cannot do so whilst Syria make "pre-conditions", like the return of the Golan heights. The return of the Golan Heights is a requirement put upon Israel by international law mandated in resolution 242.

Syria asking Israel to comply with international law is considered an unhelpful pre-condition.

However, Israel is allowed to ask that Syria stop supporting Hamas and Hizbullah as a pre-condition to any talks and this is seen as being perfectly reasonable - despite the fact that the Israeli pre-condition is far vaguer and Syria's compliance with it almost impossible to establish.

It is, in effect, a Joker card that Israel can play whenever talks that she does not want to take part in seem possible.

Mr Peres, asked if he supported the idea of Britain having closer relations with Syria, said: "Frankly, we support the engagement by the quartet [the US, the UN, Russia and the EU]. I believe it will be very hard to have any negotiations without American participation." He added that Syria wanted the US to negotiate but that "the Americans don't feel that the Syrians are clear and honest".

Of course it's hard to have negotiations "without American participation" as the Americans are the only country on Earth who buy into Israel's duplicitous reading of the situation as it pertains to land captured in 1967. The UN, Russia and the EU are all in favour of Israel obeying international law and handing back the captured land. Only the US accept as legitimate this Israeli dance where they would "really like" to hand it back whilst simultaneously finding a myriad of reasons as to why negotiations cannot take place. And all the while Israel continues building on the land in clear violation of UN resolutions.

I'm not sure where this present US accusation against Syria and Iran is going to lead us, but I do know that when Israel and the US - the two country's who connived to cause billions of dollars of damage to Lebanon this summer in the hope of setting off a wider regional conflict - portray themselves as having only Lebanon's best interests at heart, it really is time to pass the sick bag.

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tag: United, States, Bush, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Resolution 1559, Hizbullah, Hamas,