WINEP: "...Political pressure from the Hariri Tribunal ... to spin Damascus out of Tehran's orbit..."

Finally: Someone frank enough to say that, among other things, the Hariri Tribunal is a "pressure tool" to be used against the Syrians to make them nicer. Andrew J. Tabler (in the NYTImes) at WINEP, here

"...Dispatching Jeffrey Feltman, the acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, sends a signal to the Syrian leadership that discussions will be about the hard issues that divide the two countries......The risks of engagement with Syria are all too apparent to United States officials, as the poor track record of American officials visiting Damascus shows. Its position on Hamas, Hezbollah and jihadi fighters are a tough sell. On the one hand Syrian government officials claim to have influence over these groups, but when confronted they often say the groups are outside their control.....Frank talk combined with "smart sanctions" and political pressure from the Hariri Tribunal, along with the nuclear issue, could spin Damascus out of Tehran's orbit.."