Syria: Still in Defiance
In a recent statement made by Secretary of State Colin Powell, he pointed out that Syria had been asked to help stop the violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and had not yet done what it had promised. A month or so ago, Syria had promised to cease supporting the terrorist groups Hizbollah and HAMAS. Syria did some minor things such as close an office of Hizbollah, which had served as a political office for the group but that was about it. They did nothing to stop the continued violence in the Arab-Israeli conflict and it showed that Syria wasn't being serious enough to help combat terrorist activity and wasn't taking the words of the United States seriously.
Since the seemingly heavy pressure on Syria during and shortly after the war in Iraq, not much else has happened. It seems that the pressure eased off and not much more was said in regards to their support of terrorist activity. However, Syria apparently had heeded warnings by the United States regarding the harboring of former Iraqi government officials because it appears that several have returned to Iraq after being forced out of Syria. That does show something good about Syria and the fact that they are at least willing to cooperate with the United States in that vital area.
Still, there is a lot more that Syria can do to help out. Terrorist organizations are destroying the potential for peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Syria can lend a helping hand to the peace process by halting its support of terrorist organizations (Hizbollah and HAMAS) by cutting off any financial aid that they are giving to those organizations as well as by not allowing them to operate in their territory. This would leave Hizbollah in a pretty tight place most certainly affecting their abilities to perform terrorist acts against Israel. But will Syria even consider doing something like this in an effort to help peace?
The answer is probably not. Why? First, Syria has a lot at stake in a peace agreement with Israel and the Palestinians. Syria would lose its power in the region if the two warring parties make peace meaning that it will surely lose a lot of it's ability to control things that are happening in that area. I think that Syria enjoys the power it has to use terrorist organizations as covert operators to help continue to undermine the peace process. They have no benefit if peace is achieved in the Middle East.
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