Intelligence: February 26, 2005

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Although Syria is under increasing pressure to pull its troops out of Lebanon, removing the Syrian intelligence infrastructure will be another matter. The Syrians have had the run of Lebanon for over twenty years, and have established sleeper agents, informants and people in the Lebanese military and government infrastructure that they can depend on long term. They can depend on these Lebanese assets because, if the Syrians make it widely known which Lebanese have been working for them, said Lebanese will be in big trouble with his neighbors. Many of the pro-Syrian Lebanese officials are also involved with various Syrian business deals, not all of them legal, but most of them quite lucrative. Syrian intelligence runs most of these people, and has proved to be very adept at using its Lebanese agents effectively. It will be a long time before Lebanon is completely free of Syrian influence.