Israel Matzav

Syria and Lebanon complain of 'discrimination'

Syria and Lebanon complained on Tuesday about new US measures designed to screen airline passengers for terrorists. Under the measures, nationals of 14 countries are subject to extra screening on trips into and out of the US. Syria and Lebanon are two of the 14 countries.

"It is the sovereign right of the USA to chose to protect its citizens the way it deems most appropriate," Lebanon's Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters. "What is under question is the fact that citizens of different countries are singled out in a discriminatory fashion."

In Syria, the state-run news agency said Washington's top diplomat in Damascus was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and told the new measures constituted "unfriendly behavior." No Syrian citizen was ever involved in terror attacks against the US, the agency noted.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry also informed the American diplomat that Damascus could be left with no choice but to introduce similar measures against US citizens.

The picture at the top of this post is from a flight training school in Florida. The person in the picture is Lebanese-born Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Flight 93 to a crash landing in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.

Lebanese-born Imad Mughniyah carried out a series of terror attacks against the United States and Israel in the 1980's and 1990's. Mughniyah was one of many terrorists housed by Syria until he was killed two years ago. Among other things, Mughniyah was one of the hijackers of TWA flight 847 in 1985, which resulted in the death of US Naval Officer Robert Stethem on the tarmac in Beirut. The hijacking is best remembered by this famous, but faked picture of what turned out to be a teenager holding a gun to Captain John Testrake's head (read the comment from Testrake's son here).

But there's no reason to think a Syrian or Lebanese national would want to commit a terror attack in the US. No reason at all.

/sarc

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:46 PM