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Arab/Muslim States

French president irks Syria by calling its proxy army 'terrorists'


By Stan Goodenough
July 12, 2007

The Syrian regime of Bashar el-Assad was fuming Wednesday after new French President Nicolas Sarkozy dared to call the Lebanese Hizb'allah a terrorist organization.

Sarkozy made his remark in a meeting with the families of three IDF soldiers abducted in 2006 by the Hizb'allah and Hamas.

Since the taking of Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser, a year ago today, the Hizb'allah has not released to their families a single sign that they are still alive.

The third soldier, Gilad Schalit, who is also a French citizen, was shot and kidnapped by Hamas in the Gaza Strip more than a year ago.

While Hizb'allah was spawned by Iran, Damascus - a close ally of Tehran's - actively undergirds the Islamist group, supplying it with missiles and other weaponry and, according to analysts, using it to wage a proxy war against Israel.

The official Syrian daily newspaper Tishrin said in its Wednesday editorial that Hizb'allah was an organization struggling "for freedom and independence."

Calling it terrorist was to "turn concepts and principles upside down," it said.

Syria has traditionally had a close relationship with France; with what some called a "love affair" existing with the former anti-Israel president Jaques Chirac.

Tishrin said France had made an "incorrect choice" by being biased against Hizb'allah. It encouraged France to be an "honest and even-handed" broker in the Middle East.

"...hopes are still pinned on France to put things back on their right course," the paper said.

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