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Israel defeated, says Syria

Atul Aneja

Assad praises Hizbollah for waging a "glorious battle"

DUBAI: Hizbollah's success in countering Israeli inroads into Lebanon has prompted Syria to declare that the United States and Israel had lost their grip on West Asia.

In a defiant address on Tuesday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad praised Hizbollah for "the glorious battle" that it had waged, which had shifted the security balance in the region.

"From a military perspective, it [the battle] was decided in favour of the resistance. Israel has been defeated from the beginning," Mr. Assad said. He added that Israel had surrounded Beirut within seven days of its invasion of Lebanon in 1982. In comparison, "After five weeks it [Israel] was still struggling to occupy a few hundred metres."

Mr. Assad said the U.S. had failed to impose its will on West Asia. "The Middle East [West Asia] they [the Americans] aspire to .... has become an illusion." He wrote off the Bush administration as incapable of promoting peace in the region. "This is an administration that adopts the principle of pre-emptive war that is absolutely contradictory to the principle of peace," he said. "Consequently, we don't expect peace soon or in the foreseeable future."

Arab countries criticised

The Syrian President also criticised the Arab countries, which had accused Hizbollah of starting the war by capturing two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

"We do not ask anyone to fight with us or for us .... But [they] should at least not adopt the enemy's views."

Key U.S. allies, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt had said that Hizbollah's actions had sparked the war. Mr. Assad stressed that lasting peace could be achieved only after Israel ended its occupation of Arab lands. Iran also blamed the U.S. for siding with Israel. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel had used American weaponry to target women and children in Lebanon. Both Syria and Iran have been Hizbollah's staunch supporters in recent years.

Inside Lebanon, the war-displaced were heading back home in droves after the ceasefire came into effect on Monday.

Lebanese Defence Minister Elias Murr said the army would, by the end of the week, deploy 15,000 troops along the Litani river, 30 km from the Israeli border.

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