Mario Loyola in NRO: Stop the flow of weapons from Syria

The following proposal for resolving the current crisis is preceded by analysis that attempts to show that Hizbullah missile-firing cannot be stopped by current Israeli military action. The real solution, according to Loyola, is to cut off the flow of arms from Syria:

The West must focus on the pivotal role of Syria. It is the exposed bottleneck in the Hezbollah supply chain. Its airports serve as conduits for a steady stream of missiles from Iran. And its factories are churning out many of the missiles now raining down on Israel. And attempts to control the Lebanon-Syria border won’t work. The border is too long, and too porous.

The only thing that has any hope of bringing light to the end of the tunnel is a robust Security Council resolution under Chapter VII that requires Iran to stop supplying weapons to Syria, and requires Syria to stop supplying weapons to Hezbollah. The Council should demand of Syria a transparent accounting of the weapons shipments it has received from Iran, as well as a comprehensive declaration of Syria’s missile production infrastructure, with full details of its inventories and disposition of missiles. Syria must then be required to admit U.N. inspectors at all of its military and civilian airports, as well as its missile production facilities. And finally, the resolution should authorize the use of all necessary means, including the use of force, to enforce its terms.

This proposal is interesting, but it raises an obvious question: what if the UN is unable or unwilling to deliver such action against Syria? And what options would there be for action against Syria that bypasses the UN?

Tags: Israel, Lebanon, Hizbullah, Syria, Iran, UN