On the sidelines of a cease-fire, an increasingly defiant Syria

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is generally seen in the US and in Israel as a weak leader who has to end his country's support for Hizbullah or face the consequences.

But in a string of recent statements, Mr. Assad has signaled that he has no intention of backing down and is determined to use the fraught situation in Lebanon to push his longstanding claims to the Golan Heights.

On Wednesday, he warned that if peace negotiations on the Golan fail to materialize soon, Syria will take a more aggressive stance toward its old enemy.

"We are continuously seeking preparations, at least in the first phase, to defend our territories because Israel is an expansionist state," Assad said on Dubai TV. "If peace is not achieved and the peace process does not move, then war is the natural future in the region and Syria will be the first party concerned in the matter."

Rami Khouri, editor-at-large of the Daily Star, an English-language Lebanese newspaper, says Assad's interview carried the same spirit of defiance as his past speeches and was a sign that Syria, like others in the region, feels emboldened by Hizbullah's performance against Israel.

"When he says there is a war option, I think that's more of confrontation or resistance," says Mr. Khouri. "What he's really trying to say is, 'let's not keep having these wars every three years. Let's look at the peace option.' The peace side is more significant than the war side of his message. It's more possible and more desirable."

The Syrian government has expressed its support of Hizbullah throughout the 34-day war between the Lebanese guerrillas and Israel, even though its own border with Israel remained quiet. Assad also said Wednesday that stationing international peacekeepers on its border with Lebanon would be considered an "infringement on Lebanese sovereignty" and "a hostile stance toward Syria."

"In essence, what we see going on in Lebanon is a classic struggle for an important sphere of influence," says Joshua Landis, a historian of Syria and director of the Center for Peace Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

"Since the American invasion of Iraq, the US decided to take Lebanon away from Syria. [But] Lebanon is the major card that Syria has to play in order to get back the Golan Heights, and Hizbullah is the most important card in Syria's hand."

Mr. Landis says that from Assad's standpoint, abandoning Hizbullah means abandoning his country's claims to the Golan Heights, which were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Doing so is something he doesn't seem inclined to do. Such a step would severely damage his standing among his own people and in the broader region.

"Bashar's latest speech saying he would close the border with Lebanon, and that [putting] foreign troops on the border would be considered a hostile act – this is a message from Bashar to the French," says Landis. What he is saying, Landis says, is: " 'Do not think you can come here and oppose us and shut down Hizbullah because we will consider this an act of war.' He's seeking to use tough talk to scare off the French."

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