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U.S. Effort to Leverage Syria Is Flagging
(Christian Science Monitor) Nicholas Blanford - More than a year after the U.S. launched a cautious effort to reengage with Syria, wooing it away from Iran and the Iranian-backed Shiite Hizbullah, the process appears to have reached an impasse. Far from loosening its ties to Hizbullah, which the U.S. classifies as a terrorist organization, Syria seems to be drawing ever closer to the group in military cooperation. In April, reports surfaced that Syria had transferred Scud ballistic missiles to Hizbullah's control. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had delivered to Syria a new sophisticated radar system. "In a post 9/11 world, this is not what we expected after 14 or so senior [diplomatic] visits to Damascus in the last year," says Andrew Tabler, a Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.