It's obvious to me that Iran is the dominant "partner" in this relationship - and that Syria is the submissive weakling. This is nothing more than a ploy for Iran to move artillery and other pieces of heavy armor closer to Israel. When the time comes for Israel to wake up and confront the Iranian threat, Syria too will regret its decision to get into bed with the Mullah distatorship.

The news of two countries Defence Ministers meeting is nothing but very much in line with the wrong policies of the USA. in the region.Do you expect Iran and Syria to just watch USA issuing threats from time to time with Iran just watching the scenerio?Of course not and in fact the next move is towards Lebanon as well.The countries in the region will have to present a combined force to encounter USA meddling in every conceivable areas.

These two are the only turkeys who could actually state they want to rid the region of weapons of mass destruction by bringing tens of thousands of those self same weapons into the region. In the end, it will be the US and Israel against Syria, Iran, Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad with all the Europeans sitting it out on the sidelines praying their "neutrality" will sit well with their growing radical Islamic populations who might therefore not blow up their cities in what Le Monde and Al Jazeera will call "outrage".

If you imagine for even a second Syria and Iran (even combined) can withstand the U.S. military, you are either naiive or living in a dream world. Our problem has always been the need to stay and rebuild the countries we defeat, like Iraq. This is where we make our mistake.

The Kurds, our traditional allies are the most at risk from this agreement!

Iraq is a uniqe war for the USA. The US has learned alot about fighting in the Mid. East and will adjust accordly. Throwing Saddam out was easy, people seem to forget that, then the US killed his kids, people seem to forget that too. The leaders and children of the leaders of these 2 Countries can be taken out in less than a week, people seem to forget that too. If we really want them gone, say Bye Bye, my little chipper UK Muslum friend.

onions, do you rver feel "syrian" ? i mean, what with new york bars. big hairy muslim iranian warrior. come knock my towers down. le petit mort.

this union will lasst as long as the original United Arab Republic known as the UAR it fell apart because they could not agree as to who is or should be the TOP DOG in that pond.

Yonatan,I am not living in a dream world at all.I am uptodate with what is going around, so be very certain that what I write is based on facts rather than imagination.Your suggestion of combined force of Syria and Iran being no match to USA is absolutely correct.No arguments at all.But things dont work that way.And for your kind information,dont, for God sake, tell me that USA has kept its force in Iraq to reconstruct it.That is a joke of the year,Yonatan.These type of statements can be absorbed by illiterate people.In the world of politics that is far too different reasons for USA presence and you definitely know that.So, please withdraw your statement else I have pretty good answers to your statement.

It would serve Syria right to become an occupied satellite state of Iran, just the same as they did (and are still doing) to Lebanon. Syria which is supposedly a secular state is in danger of getting overrun by I'm-mad-in-jihad and his Islamofascist regime.

I am not sure if it is such a good idea for Israel to stay in the backdrop, allowing Iran to keep spreading its anti Israel propaganda around the world, while positioning itself dangerously close to Israel' s borders through their puppet governments like Syria and Lebanon. I believe these threats are becoming more real everyday. There will be a time when these fanatic Jew haters will decide to go all out against the Jewish nation from every sides of Israel's borders, thus inflicting heavy casualties, as well as great destruction. It is time for Israel to write its own agenda and take charge of their destiny.

Bla, bla, bla, blahhhhh as much as you like, in the end they will both be well shtupped! You can best on it.

A match made in hell where they are going to end up!

For the life of me, I will never understand what's holding Israel back...Popularity contest? they don't give a hoot!

Racism, Zionism, Imperialism and Fascism are the true colors of Israel. Another poll in Europe, Asia and Africa shows that Israel is a real threat to humanity. Israel's desintegration is imminent sooner or later. Israel will never live in peace even with my country's unconditional support. The thing is, as history showed it, we, Americans, can't be on Israel's side for ever. One day our interest is going to shift and found that Israel is actually a liability. Our president's decision to talk instead of confronting Iran shows one striking thing. The AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbies who push for a confrontation were cornered and ignored! In the same time Israel is losing ground day after day. Iranian' president may be inflamatory but he may have a point when he says that the occupiers of Palestinian lands have to go back home sooner than later. Nuclear Iran is here.

I am an activist Zionist, and will do everything to insure Israel (and the US) defeat our mutual Arab and Muslim enemies. (Syria is Arab-Iran is Muslim). That said, Syria already has over 700 Scuds (of advance types), armed with WMD, all aimed at Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jerusalem and other areas in the Jewish state. I think they also are aimed at US forces throughout the M.E. Getting T model tanks wont' help...Israel has the best tank trap (Golan Heights). I shudder to think that the Heights were negotiable. Israel has targeted the Syrian AND Iranian missiles, as well as troop concentrations, ships, and tank farms. Those Shihab Missiles are like pin pricks against Israel, as are the Scuds. No missile will ever get through Israel's defenses. Besides, one overflight of our (US) B-1s...a few hundred Cruise Missiles launched, will make believers out of the mad mullahs in both countries. Remember Damasuc is a only few miles from massive Israeli brigades and artillery. The Road to Damascus is ripe for Israeli Merkavas. And the US has bunker busters.

Syria has not learned her lessons in 1967 and 1973. I guess the President was just a baby then. And he does not read books about those wars. A new generation has arrived without knowing about their experience in the Yom Kippur War of 1973. So, when you forget history you are bound to repeat your mistakes.

You think T-72 tanks or short-range SCUDs are at all meaningful against the US military? Have you completely forgotten how the US tore apart the far stronger Iraqi war machine? These weapons are only useful if Syria wants to launch another aggressive invasion of Israel, of Lebanon, or one of the other neighbors that are hostile torward Syria, or to use against its own civilians (remember Hama?). The Syrian junta is looking for someone to sponsor its addiction to attacking its neighbors, and in particular Israel. Iran is looking for a way to stir up trouble in the region. Both are imperialists in a way that the US has not been in a century; they actively seek to conquer and digest other countries other countries. Syria tried to eliminate Lebanon and Israel; Iran is seeking to do the same in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. ASK the GCC nations why they need to buy arms from the rest of the world. It isn't because they're afraid of Israel; they know Israel won't bother them. It's because they expect to be attacked by Iran.

Assad wants Iranian arms -- sigh. So predictable.

Iran has already promised to wipe Israel off the map. US is too bush in Afghanistan and Iraq to do anything against Iran. And we have seem that US military cannot even manage to defeat the insurgents in Iraq. Even in Afghanistan the Talibans are back to terrorise the coalition forces. Iran is now openly defying the US. Israel also cannot do anything to Syria or Iran. Israeli army could not even keep south Lebanon. A small group of Hezbollah managed to defeat Israel from its bases. No more security zone after Israel made hasty retreat from south Lebanon. Therefore, we can predict that Iran and Syria are probably planning an invasion of Israel. Ahmedinejad is determined to support Hamas.

In fact BUTT ugly. Hence the inferiority complex. Raanan Lurie used to draw Assads Dad as a vulture now he can add these two.(sorry vultures if you think you are being malinged take it up with Raanan Lurie).CHEERS.

I respect your views,no doubt but things dont work according to what you think.In order to keep the arms industry alive,these Superpowers have to play a game.Keep allusive threats alive to ensure business.So far as your contention that Israel is no threat.......................I am afraid,I dont agree with you at all.Long term plans of the Israel's Government is well known to the world.So we agree to disagree,Howard.

Your sneering comments about Syrians not knowing their own history are totally facile. Syria lost one of its provinces in 1967 and if you think for one second that all Syrians are not aware of their own country's history, then you are living really in cloud cuckoo land. Moreover, you claim that Bashar al-Assad does "not read books about those wars" is beyond ridiculous. If you want to demean Israel's northern neighbour, you really need to think of better slanders than those. Perhaps it doesn't occur to you that as Syrians are also human beings, every bit as valuable as US citizens in the big scheme of things, they go to school, have education, go to university and contrary to all the prejudice written here, there is a lively debate going on in Syria. It so happens that the whole population is agreed on two things: the need to rectify the Palestinian situation and the desire to regain the Jawlaan. So next time to try to castigate people for their lack of history, try harder.

As you seem to have no shame in saying publicly that the leaders of Iran and Syria are ugly - perhaps you'd care to post a photograph of yourself. Your contribution to the discussion is completely worthless but it obviously made you feel a little bit more superior for having written it.

IN any other cirumstances, your comparison of Asad and Ahmedinajad to "two monkey boys" would be considered deeply offensive and roundly anti-Semitic. You seem to think that if the butt of your seething hatred is not Jewish then you can make any ridiculous, facile, racist comparisons you want. You are only making a public fool of yourself.

you will get rid of our WMD is when we will launch them on you.

the fact still remains that Syria and Iran are the 2 remaining belligerent states in the region. Your proper English can not change the fact that these 2 tyrannical regimes are posing a threat to the entire world. The only histrory that matters in my eyes is that the ineptness of Syria at war should be taken into account before they choose their adversaries. If the IAF disabled the whole Syrian air-force in 72 minutes during 67 war, can you imagine what the US will do?

Did I dispute any of that? No - I disputed the logic of teenage-style posters here dragging the debute to the level of "Ahmedinajad and Assad look like monkeys". If you had read the posts I was answering, you might note that I was referring to two subjects: a) it is a facile argument to write in public forums that political leaders look like monkeys b) it is groundless argument to imply that the president of Syria has not read any history books. It might make good sounding rhetoric - but it is a hollow claim and does no more than flaunt the ignorance of the poster. You might also notice that I did not touch on anyone's inepness at war - as I believe that the whole war business is an inept concept and appeals only to people with a love of bloodshed which they hide flimsily behind a curtain of ideology and supremacism.

You call Syria and Iran "2 remaining belligerent states in the region"! Although the regimes in these two countries are not democratic but both are way less belligerent that the Zionist state of Israel. Iran has no history of occupation, daily shelling of civilians, home demolitions, outright racism and war mongering. on the other hand Israel, a country created by regligious extremist terrorists and run by a gang of international terrorists and war criminal is the real rogue and belligernt party in the region not Iran nor Syria. Iran and Syria are not the threat to the world, Israel run by Jewdeofascists is.