(Washington Post) Daniel Serwer - Since 2012, Hizbullah has deployed forces inside Syria where its thousands of fighters are aligned with Assad's army. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps pays Hizbullah's bills and provides its command-and-control operations. Along with the Russian air intervention and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hizbullah fighters have enabled Assad to make progress against his opponents, especially those associated with the Free Syrian Army fighters backed by the U.S. A shift in the military balance is essential to ending the war in Syria, which is what Washington says it wants. Hizbullah is a U.S.-designated terrorist group that has murdered Americans, among many others. U.S. targeting of Hizbullah would mostly please and embolden Washington's friends and discomfit its antagonists. It would also reassert U.S. commitment to fighting terrorism of all sorts, renew Washington's commitment to holding Hizbullah accountable, hasten an end to the Syrian civil war and make a political settlement more likely. The writer is a professor and director of the conflict management program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
2016-08-01 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive