Kuwaiti daily and Syrian scenarios
Syria-Regional, Politics, 4/24/2002

The Kuwaiti daily al-Seyasah said Tuesday, according to well-informed sources that the Syrian leadership is deeply studying several scenarios that have imposed themselves following the visit paid by the US secretary general Colin Powell to the region.

The paper said that the first scenario which is the one pressuring not only on Syria but also on the Arabs in general, relates to the American unlimited support to Israel and accusing every and each one who stand in the face of this policy of terrorism. An accusation, according to high ranking diplomatic force, which will be conducive to war, especially as Sharon has become for the US as part of the decision making rather than being the subject of American pressures.

The Kuwaiti paper said that the Syrian officials have fears over opening the southern front in Lebanon, especially as Sharon is not waiting for pretexts, rather creating them if he wants so and that this front costs Syria and Lebanon dear, especially as that at the meantime Syria is concerned in its internal affairs and administrative and economic reforms. The paper added that the same can be said for Lebanon whose prime minister, according to observers, had a joint Syrian- Lebanese message to have told to the American leadership during his recent visit to the USA.

In the second scenario, the Syrians see that the war is taking place eventually as far as the Israeli government gives no consideration to the international will as a whole, nor wants peace with the Arabs, except under its own conditions, noting that this was crystal clear in Sharon's initiative and the American promotion for it, while Syria, Lebanese and Yasser Arafat are excluded from this initiative as well as the Europeans.

The paper said that the Syrians, in this regard, are making their own preparations and say if all world forces will fail to deter Sharon from launching the war, so "let it be," but certainly Syria and Lebanon will not be Jenin camp nor Ramullah.

Al-Seyasah quoted a diplomatic source in the Lebanese capital Beirut that the Syrians informed Hizbullah and its leaders Hassan Nasrullah not to give any direct or non- direct pretext to Sharon and also asked the Lebanese army and with the Syrian support to control the Palestinian elements which want to open the front in south Lebanon.

The paper said that the third scenario goes to the British capital, London, though the Syrian officials did not mention it by name, rather prefer saying the European Union. However, the Syrian leadership has fully realized that just the British weight equals Europe as a whole especially towards actions with the American administration, and therefore there has been talks in Damascus about a sudden visit to be paid by the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Britain.

A well- informed source stresses that such a visit will be magic towards easing down the front and the Arab region and avoid the region a real catastrophe.

The paper concluded that President al-Assad's visit to Britain might be coincided with the visit of the Saudi crown prince to Washington and thereby Arab diplomacy would have penetrated actually the wall of fears from the "Zionist Lobby."

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