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| U.S. firepower: The USS Cole, seen here in Norfolk, Va., departed in June 2007 for the Middle East for the first time since
an Oct. 12, 2000, Al Qaeda attack on the ship in Yemen’s port of Aden killed 17 sailors. Mark Wilson/Getty Images/File |
U.S. warship stirs Lebanese fear of war.
The USS Cole has deployed off the coast of Lebanon as that nation's political crisis deepens.
from the March 4, 2008 edition
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"These sort of gestures do not work around here," says Timur Goksel, a university lecturer in Beirut and former United Nations official in Lebanon. "Last time they shelled the Druze mountains. What are they going to shell this time? Dahiyeh?" he added, referring to the Hizbullah stronghold in Beirut.
Pentagon officials have said that the USS Cole, which is accompanied by two refueling ships, could soon be joined by some of the six-ship Nassau strike group, consisting of troop carriers, three more guided missile destroyers, and a submarine. Military analysts say it will be the largest American naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean in many years. The ships will not sail into Lebanese territorial waters, which extend 12 miles from the coastline.
"It's the start of a new campaign to change Syrian behavior," says Sateh Noureddine, a columnist with Lebanon's As Safir newspaper. "It's just the first signal from Washington that the Bush administration is fed up with Syrian behavior in Lebanon, Iraq, and the region. I think the Syrian regime will realize in the near future that it cannot continue challenging the whole world."
Syria, however, shows little sign of being cowed by the warship. Walid Muallem, Syria's foreign minister said that the arrival of the USS Cole "shows that the United States is striving to undermine all political solutions in the Lebanese crisis."
Lebanon has been without a president since November, due to a deadlock between rival political factions. The crisis has defied regional and international mediation and has fostered a deterioration in relations between Damascus and some of its Arab neighbors, particularly Saudi Arabia, a strong backer of the Lebanese government.
Last week, Saudi Arabia transferred its ambassador in Damascus to Qatar and urged its citizens to leave Lebanon because of the risk of violence. Saudi King Abdullah also has hinted that he will not attend the Arab League summit hosted by Damascus at the end of the month. A Saudi boycott of the annual event could encourage other Arab heads of state to stay away, embarrassing Syria and straining even further its already brittle ties with the Gulf kingdom.
Analysts view the moves by Saudi Arabia, coupled with US warships off Lebanon, as part of a coordinated campaign by Washington and Riyadh to squeeze Syria. But many also see these developments as further undermining the confidence in national stability among Lebanese, many of whom say their fate rests in the outcome of a regional power fight.
"Doesn't anybody think about this poor country?" asks Mr. Goksel, criticizing Saudi departures and the USS Cole deployment. "They are punishing Lebanese, scaring them, and panicking them."
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