U.S. President George W. Bush said on Thursday his patience with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had run out long ago. "Syria needs to stay out of Lebanon," Bush told a White House news conference when asked whether he would be willing talk to Assad about stabilizing Lebanon, which is caught up in a political crisis.
The Bush administration has tried to isolate Damascus diplomatically, though Syria sent representatives to a U.S.-hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace conference last month in Annapolis, Maryland. "My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago," Bush said. "The reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq and he destabilizes Lebanon," Bush said. |