Syria hails "a new middle east"

[KagePrototype]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4794363.stm

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says a new Middle East has emerged as a result of what he called Hezbollah's victory over Israel in southern Lebanon.

He said the vision of the region the US aspired to had become an illusion.

Mr Assad, speaking in Damascus a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire took effect, was giving his first speech on the crisis since it began more than a month ago.

He praised the "the glorious battle" he said had been waged by Hezbollah, and said peace in the Middle East was not possible with the Bush administration in power in Washington.

"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."

The defiant speech is the clearest sign of how US opponents in the Middle East have been emboldened by the outcome of the conflict, says the BBC's Jon Leyne in Damascus.

Mr Assad said there was no more need for defeatism among Arabs - a feeling echoed across the Arab world, our correspondent adds.

Meanwhile, the presidents of US and Iran have blamed each other for fuelling the crisis.

US President George W Bush accused Iran of backing armed groups in Lebanon and Iraq "in the hope of stopping democracy from taking hold".

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed Washington for providing Israel with weapons which he said had been used to target women and children in Lebanon.

Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and...

 

[VictimOfScience]

Its hardly a new Middle East. Its not as if this sort of conflict hasn't been going on for years and years and years and years.

And it doesn't matter who is in the White House--there will likely never be peace in the Middle East. Of course, with all that oil, it doesn't help to have an oil baron in charge over here...

Ugh, sigh is right....

 

[DeusExMachina]

We been putting up with him for 6 years, they can wait 2 more. Bastids.

 

[Kangy]

Please, 1000+ civilian deaths in Lebanon hardly imply a victory for Hezbollah.

 

[clarky003]

No, but the UN has forced the Israeli forces that have occupied southern Lebanon for nearly 2 decades to move back into their own country. It was the main reason Hezbollah was created, which is why they feel they have succeeded.