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The Mideast Erupts

[Washington Post] Editorial - There can be no doubt that Iran and Syria, Hizballah's chief sponsors, bear responsibility for what has instantly become the most far-reaching, lethal, and dangerous eruption of cross-border fighting in the Middle East in recent years. Europeans and others in the international community are already criticizing as excessive Israel's swift military response to Hizballah's ambush of an Israeli patrol Wednesday, in which three soldiers were killed and two others taken captive. Conspicuously they have said comparatively little about the volleys of dozens of rockets Hizballah rained down on northern Israel. Many Lebanese, including but not only Christians, are furious at Hizballah for exercising what amounts to a unilateral foreign policy. Tehran should be called to account in the UN Security Council not only for its program to enrich uranium but also for its support of Hizballah. Damascus, which hosts Hizballah and Hamas, should also come under renewed international pressure, including sanctions. In all the diplomacy, the false lure of "evenhandedness" must not be allowed to obscure the fact that Hizballah and its backers have instigated the current fighting and should be held responsible for the consequences.
2006-07-16 01:00:00
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