Iran, Syria Conspicuously Absent From Rome Summit

[Dover]

MIDDLE EAST: IRAN, SYRIA CONSPICUOUSLY ABSENT FROM ROME SUMMIT

Rome, 25 July (AKI) - (Ahmad Rafat) - When top officals from the United States, Europe, the United Nations and the Middle East gather in Rome on Wednesday for a conference on the crisis in Lebanon, two of the main players will be missing. Iran and Syria have not been invited to the talks. This is despite what most observers say is the active support both Tehran and Damascus give to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group whose kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers triggered the crisis.

Syria's absence from the Rome summit has been interpreted by some as a strategic move - leaving the possibility of drawing the regime of Basher al-Assad into negotiations at a later stage.

But Iran's exclusion, together with open hostility from many in the Arab world to Hezbollah's actions, represents a slap in the face to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

..snip..


But a Hezbollah defeat in the current crisis would severely cripple Ahmadinejad's (Iran) foreign policy, especially given growing suspicion in the mostly Sunni Arab world over the emergence of a possible "Shiite Crescent", a term coined by Jordan's King Abdullah, encompassing Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.

It is in the interest of the Sunni Arab states to see Iran's influence in the region greatly diminished, and could explain why they have not objected to Tehran's exclusion from the Rome talks.

Cont'd

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.324553112&par=0


Is King Abdullah in Jordan really concerned about a "Shiite Crescent" or is that propaganda to fuel fears and further division?

[bemildred]

1. Instrumental but excluded (Iran)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x224457