Bush Calls Out Syria to Stop Hezbollah Attacks

Like Ambassador Bolton yesterday, President Bush called out to Syria to stop the violence in Lebanon.

U.S. President George W. Bush (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin leave the stage at the end of a joint news conference in St Petersburg, Russia, July 15, 2006. (REUTERS/Jim Bourg)

President Bush and Russian President Putin hld a press conference at teh G8 Conference in Strelna, Russia earlier today. The two leaders addressed the current situation in the Middle East. From the White House:

QUESTION: The violence in the Middle East is escalating despite calls for restraint. What can you, President Bush and President Putin, do to stop the violence, stop the fighting, given that there is divisions among allies here about whether Israel is using excessive force?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I think you’ll find all parties here want the violence to stop. In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place. And that’s because Hezbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel, and because Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. That’s why we have violence.

And the best way to stop the violence is for Hezbollah to lay down its arms, and to stop attacking. And, therefore, I call upon Syria to exert influence over Hezbollah…

…The militant wing of Hamas made decisions to attack and to capture. Hezbollah has made decisions to stop the advance of a two-state solution.

The solution, short-term solution is for Hezbollah to stop the attacks. The longer-term solution is for nations around the world and nations in the neighborhood to support those who support the advance of democracy.

PRESIDENT PUTIN: I agree with the premise that it is absolutely unacceptable to try and reach this or that goal, including political goals, through the use of force, through abductions, through carrying out strikes against an independent state from the territory of another state. This is all true. And in this context we consider Israel’s concerns to be justified.

At the same time, we work under the assumption that the use of force should be balanced. And, in any case, bloodshed should stop as soon as possible. This should be the point of departure for the efforts to create an enabling environment for the resolution of the entire set of problems. Escalation of violence, in our opinion, will not yield positive results.

At any rate, we share the approach with President Bush. We will take every necessary effort on both sides, and I hope that our G8 colleagues will support us…

On Friday, Syria announced that it would back Hezbollah (and Lebanon) against Israeli attacks.

Hizbullah leaders and operatives are leaving Beirut.

Egyptian Sandmonkey has very interesting analysis from Egypt.

** Freedom for Egyptians says the ultimate target is Damascus.
This is a great read!

And, this may exlain (or maybe not?) why the Left is ignoring the war.

Little Green Footballs and Pajamas Media continue to have excellent and up to date war coverage.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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