All the Beirut news.

Here's a pleasant surprise: an actually sober editorial on Syria in the Financial Times. Although the last graph on Iran and the SOFA is off, the editorial is overall quite decent in its reading of Syria and the many associated illusions and stupidities that are so much in vogue these days:

First France, and now Britain. The courtship of Syria proceeds apace. There is, of course, nothing wrong with engagement, as the Bush years have taught us. Ideally, however, robust diplomacy should be harnessed to a coherent strategy. That is what is lacking in the cosying up to Bashar al-Assad and his regime.

Michael Rubin has an excellent article in Forbes arguing against the silly current fad -- the latest policy buzz, which has only been peddled for the last 30 years -- of how to "pry Syria away from Iran."

The added benefit of Rubin's article is that it includes an all-too-often neglected, yet crucial, angle: the angle of inter-Arab relations, and the regional balance of power effects thereof (one I always try to draw attention to). Michael offers a very interesting historical take on that.

Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman Abdulkarim Khalaf told NOW Lebanon that before the cross border strike into Syria on Sunday, his government had informed Syrian officials that a "terrorist cell" was operating in their territory.

Khalaf told NOW Lebanon, in an exclusive interview on Friday, that "Syria didn’t take any measures to uproot the terrorists in the Bou Kamal border region with Iraq."

For one, this confirms what Maj. Gen. John Kelly said last week:

The mendacious court jester over at Tishreen Comment is doing what he does best: lie, lie, then lie some more. The latest blatant lie involves this regime poodle's spin campaign targeting Gen. Petraeus and the Syrian sponsorship of al-Qaeda in Iraq.

In a post yesterday, the Oklahoma Tishreen wrote the following: