In 2005, the US and its allies, would have liked, by putting as much pressure on Bashar Al Assad, an internally-inspired regime change in Syria. Part of this strategy was the passing of UN resolution 1559, the architects of which were France, Saudi Arabia, the US and, exerting as much influence as they could, their allies in Lebanon. But then Hariri was killed and Lebanon was (and still is) subjected to a sporadic campaign of instability and violence, creating uncertainty and confusion among its people. Plan A therefore went the way of the St. Georges blast and the consensus was that a coalition of the willing, including Saudi Arabia, was drafting a Plan B to seemlessly remove the Baathists with little chance of an Iraq-style scenario developing. But are they? While many see Syria only as a pariah state that has traditionally helped terrorists and extremists of every stripe set
