Dinner in Damascus: What Did Iran Ask of Hizballah?
By Matthew Levitt
My colleague David Schenker and I argue in an article on the state of Hizballah that a successful Hizballah attack against an Israeli target -- whether on the Israeli-Lebanese border or abroad - to avenge the assassination of Imad Mughniyah two years ago last month could set off another round of fighting similar to that of 2006. Several Hizballah plots abroad have been thwarted, but the group seems intent on trying again and is rearming in Lebanon as well. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at a recent dinner in Damascus ....
On February 26, Syrian president Bashar al-Asad hosted Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah for a dinner in Damascus. Nasrallah is a routine guest in the capital, but the timing of this high-profile trip -- just a week after the United States dispatched Undersecretary of State William Burns to Damascus and nominated its first new ambassador in five years -- seemed calculated not only to irritate Washington, but also to highlight the central role Hizballah plays in Iran and Syria's strategic planning. Apart from serving as a pivot between Tehran and Damascus, however, the group also holds the power to engulf Lebanon and perhaps the entire region into another war through actions of its own.
The complete article is available here.
