Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri Monday, July 26, consigned another 1,500 troops to the country's southern border.  debkafile: Their mission is not just to guard French peacekeepers, but to fend off a Hizballah provocation of Israel to disrupt the landmark visits led by Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian president Bashar Assad to Beirut Friday. Nasrallah says he will blow up any bid to weaken Syrian-Hizballah ties.

The Lebanese army Wednesday boosted its units on the Israeli border "to monitor" Israel's homeland missile defense exercise "and prepare for any emergency" - the fourth to go on a war footing. Hizballah and Syria continued their offensive missile build-up ready for firing into Israel.
In its latest issue out Friday, DEBKA-Net-Weekly points to Syrian president Bashar Assad as the prime mover in setting the scene for a conflagration, reveals the massive Iran-funded weapons systems up his sleeve and brings out ...

The Syrian ruler Bashar Assad is afraid to strengthen his own armed forces lest they overthrow his regime in a coup d'etat. He is therefore building Hizballah up into a modern army as the shield for Damascus and his regime.

Barack Obama is still going easy on Iran and Syria after both their presidents publicly ridiculed
his administration and secretary of state Hillary Clinton's appeal for Damascus to loosen its ties with Tehran.

The White House is going through with a decision to post the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years, while berating Israel day after day for the past week.
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