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Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/734684.html
The Syrian Thorn
(Ha'aretz) Shmuel Rosner - * The key to solving the Gaza crisis is located in Damascus, Defense Minister Amir Peretz told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the beginning of the week. Rice and the American administration know that Syria has become a nuisance that will continue to interfere with every process aiming to bring stability to the region. * Three years ago, the Syrians gave then secretary of state Colin Powell a kind of promise that they would close Hamas' offices in Damascus, and nothing happened. As a senior State Department official said: "The United States does not have all that many levers left for influencing the Syrians. We already have imposed nearly every possible sanction on them." * As one American official frankly told an Israeli colleague, "The situation in Iraq is not simple, and we are now trying to enlist the international community to deal with Iran. It's impossible to do everything all at once." * Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst, published an article a month ago in the Asia Times in which he revealed the Syrian position: "Hamas was transformed in the January 2006 election from a political burden to a political asset" that enables Assad to prove his importance and power in the Middle Eastern arena. Khaled Mashaal, the leader of external Hamas, is a pawn in his hands. * If Assad decides to stop supporting him, a senior Israeli source said this week, there aren't many other countries that will agree to take him in. Perhaps Iran, but that's not certain. "Assad is watching over Mashaal, because Mashaal gives him power," the Israeli source said. If he wants, he lengthens the rope, and if he wants, he shortens it.