Hitting Syria Where It Hurts

Every tyranny has its weaknesses:

Moreover, international support for such a policy is growing. President Bush's calls for the end of Syria's occupation of Lebanon ahead of that country's May parliamentary elections during his recent European tour found a receptive audience in European capitals. Moreover, French president Jacques Chirac's February 22 declaration that France was ready to support U.N. sanctions against Syria has provided the U.S. with the diplomatic opening for an economic blockade designed to deprive Syria of its primary source of externally generated revenue.

If such economic pressure is not sufficient, however, less subtle options also exist. Hundreds of miles of cross-country pipelines that ship crude from the northeastern Syrian fields to aging refineries on the Mediterranean coast are vulnerable to sabotage. And a naval blockade of Syrian ports by U.S. or allied vessels could effectively terminate Syria's crude export sales.

The resulting loss of revenue would have an immediate impact on Damascus, curtailing Syria's capacity for rogue behavior. It would also send a clear signal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad: resisting the spread of democracy in the Middle East could have perilous consequences.

Assad's regime in particular has cultivated an aura of omnipresence and fear. The surest way to erode this is through a public display of the weakness and impotence of the regime. Iraq was one avenue, Lebanon another. Stealth aircraft taking out oil and communications targets would be still another.

Once the Syrians realize that Assad's grip is weaker than his father's, regime change will happen quickly.