The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Hizbullah and the Christians must talk

The Daily Star - Opinion Articles - Hizbullah and the Christians must talk: "With the Syrians gone and Taif as a ceiling, Hizbullah's disarmament will no longer be a question of whether, but of when. That means that the Lebanese Forces and the Aounists have no reason to insist on UN Security Council Resolution 1559 if they can reach the same ends by operating through the more flexible (for being domestic) confines of Taif. Both Sfeir and the U.S. State Department official David Satterfield are on record as saying that, in their eyes, Taif and Resolution 1559 are synonymous. That Aoun in particular has problems with Taif will no longer be relevant once the Syrians pull out: as he himself has said on countless occasions, his rejection of the accord was based on its intentionally vague deadline for a Syrian departure. He was right; but if the Syrians leave soon, that debate will be over."