One leader that could not wait for U.S. President George W. Bush to be out of office is Syrian President Bashar Assad. Assad profusely congratulated his favored candidate: Barack Obama. President-elect Obama should be careful in his dealings with the Syrian regime. In fact, quite possibly, Assad might be pondering if he could get away with reoccupying Lebanon.

There is an old Arabic proverb stating that "he who gets fat, will get thin, and he who goes up in the air will come down." The simple meaning is that nothing is static in the affairs of life and each epoch has its beginning and end.

Time is running out for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He will have to decide in the next few weeks whether his overture to the West is genuine or not. To Assads credit a slew of events are pointing to his good faith, but he is still afraid to totally break loose from Irans grip. Whatever decision the Syrian president makes will have a great impact on the region.

The next U.S. president will have precious little time to engage leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran in "head-to-head negotiations" over their nuclear weapons program. Whoever becomes the next president will temporarily be required to shelve efforts to bridge the gap between Palestinians and Israelis (efforts that have proven to be a diplomatic minefield for the last two U.S. presidents – at least) and focus attention exclusively on the impending military confrontation with Iran.

AMMAN -- The foreign ministers of Syria and Lebanon formally launched diplomatic ties in a historic move that many hope marks the beginning of a new relationship that sees them as equals. But some observers in Beirut say they need time to fully trust Damascus.

AMMAN -- Syrian President Bashar Assad has made his declared intention to establish full diplomatic ties with Lebanon official. He issued a decree that would see embassies in Beirut and Damascus for the first time in their history.

JERUSALEM -- Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, has suddenly had an epiphany on his personal road to Damascus as he tries to portray himself as a prophet of peace weeks before he will be forced to step down.

There has been much talk in recent days about Syria and its intentions regarding Israel. One question that keeps regurgitating is whether Syria wants war. The short answer is: No. The long answer is: No, absolutely not.

Terrorism in Syria is indeed rare, but in just the last 10 days the country has experienced a number of unexplained explosions associated with terrorist activities. The government in Damascus remains tight-lipped as ever, though statements made by Syrian President Bashar Assad allude to the origins of those attacks emanating from Salafist groups based in northern Lebanon.

If there is one country that has been all over the news lately, it is Syria. In fact between President Bashar Assads charm offensive to the West (real or not), Syrian troops amassing near the Lebanese border, a terror attack in Damascus, it seems that today things are shaking up in Syria. But the difficulty of reading into this imbroglio is growing by the day: more players, more incidents, more drama.