The occupation of Beirut by Hizbullah and the arming of Hizbullah to a State-level is not a civil war. It is a foreign invasion by all standards. Hizbullah is an Iranian-Syrian militia operating in Lebanon.

The occupation of South Lebanon by Hizbullah can be equated with Iraq's occupation of Kuwait or Israel's occupation of West Bank and Gaza. The only difference is that Iraq sent it's troops into Kuwait, but the Syrians and Iranians chose a different method. They trained and armed local people after brainwashing them.

Therefore just as Iraq was sanctioned when it invaded Kuwait and just as Israel was under pressure to pull out of Palestinian Land it occupied in 1967, the UN must subject Iran and Syria to international sanctions until Hizbullah (which is in fact an Iranian-Syrian army) surrenders all it's weapons and the Lebanese-Syrian borders are monitored by UN against Syrians smuggling weapons to Hizbullah.

The US has committed a fatal mistake by handing Iraq over to the Shiites, which meant Iran had access to South Lebanon thru Shiite Iraq and Shiite-ruled Syria ( 99% Syrians are Sunnies governed by Shiite - Assad family-).

It is time the world community thru the UN give Syria and Iran a deadline to disarm Hizbullah and transfere all it's weapons to the Lebanese army or face the consequences.

Hamad S Alomar

Riyadh