At the same time, efforts by the West to break up the Syrian-Iranian alliance in hope of weakening the Islamic Republic's political sway in the region are also showing signs of failure. While Damascus may slowly begin to distance itself from Tehran as a result of Syrian President Bashar Assad's newly found friendship with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the outcome of a new French initiative launched by the Elysee Palace last July has not weakened the Islamic Republic's influence on Lebanese politics, much as Tehran continues to influence the Palestinian Islamic Movement, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip.

Going counter to efforts by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to isolate Syria, which the United States accuses, along with Iran, of supporting terrorism and terrorist groups, the French president invited his Syrian counterpart to attend the Summit for the Mediterranean in France last July, and then followed up with an invitation for Assad to attend the July 14 National Day -- or Bastille Day -- celebrations in Paris.

The move was intended to bring Syria out of the cold, and in the process further isolate Iran. And it may very well have initiated a crack in Syrian-Iranian relations. But that too did not entirely produce the desired results. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Tehran began to take steps to reinforce its position in Lebanon.

But in the deadly game of chess that is Middle East politics, a game in which the strategic stakes are immensely high and losing is not an option, the Iranians seem yet again to have taken the upper hand and are moving in to capture the queen -- at least momentarily.

All this is being done, of course, through Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite, political/paramilitary/social organization that is trained and financed by Iran.

Hezbollah is rapidly positioning itself in all aspects of Lebanese society, turning into a force that no longer can be ignored in the political and military arenas. And that is becoming true not only of Lebanon but more and more regionally.

Indeed, the militant Shiite organization has made great strides in recent months, first by reintegrating the Lebanese government, where it now enjoys the power of veto. This gives Hezbollah the ability to block any laws the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora -- an ally of the United States -- would try to enact that could end up disfavoring the movement. For example, a point of contention in Lebanon since the end of the civil war in 1990 has been the fact that the multitude of armed militias that proliferated in the country were asked to hand in their armament, while Hezbollah faced no such restrictions.

The reason given was that Hezbollah was a "resistance group" and, as such, was allowed to retain its weapons, and that Hezbollah also promised it would never turn its weapons on its fellow Lebanese. Well, as the recent violence in Beirut demonstrated, that promise didn't hold. Furthermore, not only is Hezbollah becoming solidly cemented in the country's politics, it also is emerging as a regional power that Israel now needs to take into consideration. The Second Lebanon War waged by Israel on Hezbollah in the summer of 2006 proved to be a major snafu. Though weakened by the loss of hundreds of its combatants over a period of some 33 days of intense aerial and artillery bombardment and heavy fighting, the Shiite group emerged stronger and more determined than ever before.

And today, new intelligence from the Lebanese capital speaks of truly worrisome developments:

First, a report published by the Middle East Times on Aug. 15 revealed that Hezbollah is becoming five times stronger today than it was in 2006 in terms of "weaponry, strategic and political positioning."

Second, Hezbollah is reported not only to be reinforcing its defenses in the south and in Beirut's southern suburbs, its traditional strongholds, but also to be expanding its defenses and digging a vast network of tunnels to other parts of the country, including around the northern port city of Tripoli and in the mountains above the traditional Christian heartland.

And third, new reports from the Syrian Reform Party, which have not been independently confirmed, indicate that members of Iran's al-Quds Force have arrived in Beirut to coordinate joint activities with Hezbollah. If proven true, the deployment of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon opens up an entirely new -- and worrisome -- chapter in the Middle East conflict.

(Claude Salhani is editor of the Middle East Times.)

(e-mail: [email protected])

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