"rarely discussed but universally understood"

In David Ignatius's WaPo Op-ed piece, "Siniora Stands Fast", he makes an interesting point that is not often spoken in Western Media regarding the Lebanese political situation.

"The hard edge of Siniora's strategy, hidden behind his lawyerly calm, is that he is prepared to play the sectarian game, too. An ominous sign of the dangers ahead was a huge counter-rally Sunday in support of the government by angry Sunnis in the northern city of Tripoli. "They don't have the numbers," Siniora said of the Hezbollah-Aoun alliance. "The majority can send to the street more than what the opposition can send."

The Sunni trump card is rarely discussed but universally understood: Syria, a crucial ally of Hezbollah, is an overwhelmingly Sunni country. If the Syrian-Iranian alliance squeezes the Sunnis in Lebanon too hard, there is likely to be a backlash inside Syria. Here's the way Siniora delicately phrased it to me: 'The Syrian position is what it is. It has to be part of the Arab world, not the Iranian overall plans in the region.'"

This is an aspect that is not often spoken in American MSM because the administration typically tends to oversimplify complex issues; Lebanon, like the broader Middle East must be analyzed in the cultural context of tribes, sects, ethnicity, religion, and politics. Syria and Iran do not have an absolute alliance, their interests most often do not converge, and when they do, it is only up to a certain point. Once again, to lump nations into an Axis of Evil is a dangerous oversimplification.