Word: syria
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...Middle East. Since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which sparked the anti-Syrian protests in Beirut - dubbed by Washington as the Cedar Revolution - and ended three decades of Syrian domination, the U.S. has backed the pro-Western government in Lebanon in hopes of denying Syria (and Iran) influence in the country...
...White House has begun signaling a new approach to Syrian relations - for starters, it invited Syria to last week's Annapolis peace conference to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. And Washington's overtures to Damascus, which the U.S. has repeatedly slammed for sponsoring terrorism and meddling in Lebanon and Iraq, have left pro-Western Lebanese leaders worried about being "sold out" as part of a broader U.S.-Syrian deal to stabilize the region...
...political crisis in Lebanon is seen by many as a microcosm of the regional power struggle between the United States, Iran and Syria. Some analysts here believe that the Lebanese impasse could be broken if Syria is given a prominent role at the forthcoming peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Syria, which backs the Lebanese opposition, says it will only participate in the conference if the Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967, is included on the agenda. If Syria's demand is met, Damascus could use its influence over the opposition to accept...
Though Arab nations as a whole have agreed to show up in Annapolis on Tuesday, it is not yet certain whether Syria will be among them. Thus, the Annapolis conference could end up having a greater impact on keeping the peace in Lebanon than on reaching peace between Israel and the Palestinians...
This has been a crisis nearly three years in the making. It began with the assassination in February 2005 of Rafik Hariri, a former Lebanese Prime Minister. His death, which many Lebanese pinned on neighboring Syria, triggered mass demonstrations in Beirut which, along with U.S. pressure, forced Damascus to end its direct domination of Lebanon. A Western-backed government was elected in June...