Calls for Including Lebanon in Sanctions Against Syria and Iran

Raghida Dergham:

Lebanon was, until recently, barely on the [Obama] administration’s radar. Today, however, in the wake of the popular uprising in Syria, it has once again come under its microscope [because] the geopolitics that makes Lebanon, with the kind of government it has today, an artificial lung for both Iran and the regime in Damascus to breathe through.

The Obama administration has finally acknowledged that regardless of whatever bilateral or multilateral UN sanctions it imposes against major figures of the regime in Damascus and in Tehran, they will remain of little use as long as the Syrian and Iranian regimes can still find air to breathe through Lebanon. The administration consequently recognized that Lebanon was the decisive element for completing the task — the task of shutting off the life support system sustaining Damascus and Tehran. This will require sanctions that are not restricted to Syria and Iran, but which also include leaders in the government of Lebanon.

Fasten your seat belts..