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Today, Charles Krauthammer on the Britt Hume Special Report stated that Syria needed Lebanon desperately, that without Lebanon they had a serious economic problem.

So this Gambit was to keep the attacks going on Israel ( presumably by the Palestinians, to keep Israel fighting that battle) so they could hang in there an do what they need to do (suppression ) in Lebanon.

If France buys this intelligence story , then this can be moved right onto the Security Council and ....and some really good pressure can be applied.

Now Iran maybe could buy off France once again...or Russia. This is just getting real interesting!!!

Lebanon is a drain on Syria, although there is a steady stream of squeezed cash which flows into the Corruptica-style gov't in Damascus. Syrian youth emigrate at age 17 in order to avoid compulsory national service. The pro-Arab rag Washington Report discussed this a few years back; Bashir Assad tried an amnesty program for those who had avoided service and lived abroad (mostly in well-paid jobs in the Gulf states and elsewhere), but it wasn't successful, because in order to return, the exiles had to pay a fine, and the size of the fine depended on the place of exile (some countries pay better than others).

Syria's population per the CIA World Factbook is "17,585,540 (July 2002 est.) note: in addition, about 40,000 people live in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights - 20,000 Arabs (18,000 Druze and 2,000 Alawites) and about 20,000 Israeli settlers (February 2003 est.) (July 2003 est.)" Fascinating -- nearly half the residents of the occupied Golan Hts are Druze.