US, France to introduce UN resolutions against Syria: report

I knew this was coming. First Secretary (and hopefully soon-to-be Vice President) Rice said this week that a military intervention in Syria was not off the table and still possible because of the "foreign fighters" coming into Iraq over the Syrian border. As soon as early indicators started pointed to Syria's complicit involvement in the assassination of Rafiq Hariri I knew that the US and France would be chomping at the bit to refer Syria to the UN Security Council. A while back I wrote about how France had a special interest in the Lebanon-Syria situation and took it rather personal when their "friend" was murdered.

The interesting thing about the following artile though is that is states that Syria is isolated in the Middle East naming Saudi Arabia and Egypt as examples. Obviously they are not totally isolated as Iran is its strategic partner but still - if it's true I guess it's nice to see that the persona of the Middle East is not totally monolithic.

Here's the article:

The United States and France plan to introduce two UN resolutions next week aimed at holding Syria to account for meddling in Lebanon and for its alleged links to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, the Washington Post said in a report on Wednesday.

The resolutions may be introduced as early as next Tuesday and the moves would be the toughest international action ever taken against Syria, the report said, citing Western diplomatic sources.

The moves would be designed to further isolate Syrian President Bashar Assad, who for the first time is getting cold shoulder from key Arab governments such as those in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the report said.

The impending actions will be "the perfect storm for Damascus" and "it is pretty clear the Syrians do not have any friends left," a Western diplomat was quoted by the report as saying.

While the Bush administration has considered language critical of Syria for support of terrorism that could also be used to punish or pressure Damascus for aiding extremists in Iraq, France and other nations want the focus to be limited to Syria's intervention in Lebanon, the report said.

The United States has repeatedly accused Syria of meddling in Lebanon and failing to guard against its border with Iraq. Syria has rebutted the criticism.