Protesters March on U.S. Embassy in Beirut

The Associated Press is reporting that a handful of pro-Syria demonstrators have gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Beirut to protest American interference in Lebanon. So, rule by a Syrian puppet regime is good, opposition to said puppet by the U.S. is bad.

Protesters March on U.S. Embassy in Beirut

About 2,000 pro-Syria demonstrators denouncing what they said was American interference in Lebanon marched toward the U.S. Embassy in a Beirut suburb Tuesday, and scores of riot police and soldiers used barbed wire to block the approaches to the compound. The protesters, waving Lebanese flags and chanting, “Ambassador get out! Leave my country free!” stopped at the barbed wire blocking the road about 500 yards from the fortified hilltop compound. The crowd did not try to break through.

A day earlier, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the capital in the largest anti-Syrian protests yet since international pressure on Damascus to withdraw its troops has intensified.

Pro-Syrian groups have blamed the United States for pressuring Syria into deciding to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon. They also reject a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that Syria withdraw and dismantle militias, a reference to the militant Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah.

Amusing.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. I agree with your conclusion. Sentiments in the Middle East, as exemplified by pro-Syrian elements objecting to US intervention, are misguided. Here is what we have to say about the issue and Karen Hughes’ admirable task:

    http://www.rightviews.com/article.php?id=293

  2. John Anderson says:

    As another blog pointed out, one US Ambassador is more dangerous to [occupied] Lebanon than 14000 armed foreign troops…