Word: syrian
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Rafiq Hariri was a bold, self-made billionaire but a prudent politician. Syrian troops occupied his country and bossed its politics, yet during two terms as Lebanon's dynamic Prime Minister, he was careful never to oppose Syria head on. When he was summoned to Damascus last summer to endorse changes in his country's constitution that would allow Lebanon's Syria-controlled puppet President to remain in power, he bowed to the demand despite his strong opposition. When he returned to Beirut with his arm in a white sling, wags joked that he had undergone a painful arm twisting...
...others. As the blast showered the pavement with broken glass and sent a column of black smoke into the sky, suspicion quickly focused on the country that has used political assassination to maintain its dominion over Lebanon for three decades: Syria. Though Damascus denied involvement, anti-Syrian emotions were unleashed in the streets of Beirut, where tens of thousands of mourners from across Lebanon's political spectrum turned Hariri's funeral into a freedom march, demanding an end to Syria's occupation of Lebanon...
Even before the hit on Hariri, U.S. patience with Damascus was dwindling. Syria's support for militant groups that oppose Israel, as well as its close alliance with Iran, has long been an irritant to Washington. But reports of Syrian meddling in Iraq have provoked the most rage. For a time, U.S. diplomats thought they were making headway in persuading Damascus to crack down on the money and manpower the Bush Administration charges is flowing across Syria's border to insurgents in Iraq. But a Pentagon official told TIME that the U.S. believes Syrian military officers went to Fallujah...
...long domination there and could even fuel opposition to the Baath regime in Damascus. For nearly three decades Syria has kept a tight grip on its client state, exercised through the 14,000 military and intelligence forces still based around Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. But opposition to the Syrian presence has grown. Damascus made a serious miscalculation last August when it manipulated the constitution. Hariri resigned in protest and quietly backed the U.N. resolution sponsored by France and the U.S. calling on Syria to depart. Since then, Hariri appeared to be joining political forces with the opposition to dominate...
Yesterday, U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher announced that the State Department has recalled the ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey, for “urgent consultations” in Washington. Before leaving, Scobey delivered a message to the Syrian government expressing the United States’ “deep concern as well as our profound outrage over this heinous act of terrorism,” according to a press release on the State Department website...